Spotlight on the Lake
by needysaurusrex
Summary: Summers in Georgia were always Carol's favorite thing. She loved the colors of the woods and the trees she lived near by. She loved the smell of the rain during the thunderstorms. She loved the taste of the peaches that were never as good as they were in the summer time. But the thing that Carol loved most about summer was the year that she met him. CARYL AU. T FOR NOW.
1. One

**Clearly, I am not Robert Kirkman and I do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any characters other than originals. This is an AU fic, taking place in 1985. Both Carol and Daryl are 16 (and Merle is 25). Some characters from the show might show up.**

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Summers in Georgia were always Carol's favorite thing. She loved the colors of the woods and the trees she lived near by. She loved the smell of the rain during the thunderstorms. She loved the taste of the peaches that were never as good as they were in the summer time. She loved swimming with her friends in the lake that's a three mile hike into the forest. She loved the sun beating down on her face. She loved the sounds of the birds and the animals. She even loved the humidity and the sunburns she was constantly getting. But the thing that Carol loved most about summer was the year that she met _him._

Carol held her bag close to the side of her body as she climbed on top of a fallen tree in the middle of the woods. She was maybe a mile from her destination, but she was taking her time in her going through the forest, enjoying the smells, the sounds and the scents around her. She smiled and shut her eyes, lifting her head up and taking in a deep breath. The blonde stood on top of the tree, reaching her hand up to brush a strand of her curls out of her face. Carol licked her lips and let out the breath she had been holding.

"Duck" She heard an unfamiliar voice say from behind her. Her head turned and her eyes widened when there was a boy behind her holding a crossbow, pointing it right at her (though she was sure there was no way it was really being pointed at _her. _She had no idea who it was so why would he shoot her?). Carol stared at the boy for a moment before he spoke again. "Ya fuckin' deaf? I said duck." He spoke again, a strong Southern drawl in his voice. Carol frowned before kneeling down and turning her head just in time to see the bow travel over her head and into the head of a doe a few feet away.

"Aw." She groaned as she watched it fall down, though she figured the deer would make some really nice jerky and if he took the time to shoot the damn thing with a bow she doubted any part of the deer would go to waste. Carol looked up just in time to see the boy with the crossbow walking over the tree trunk and towards the deer. Against her better judgment, Carol stood and dusted her knees off before following the strange boy she was sure she'd seen before in town. "Are you gonna cook that whole thing yourself?" She asked and the teen stopped in his footsteps, looking back over at her like he wasn't sure she was talking to him. He stared at her for a moment before speaking.

"Naw. My brother Merle's better at cooking deer than I am." He mumbled, looking down at his feet. Carol tilted her head to the side and pushed her curls from her face again. She couldn't help but smile at him, it was really cute the way that he wouldn't look at her. Maybe due to being sigh or being awkward or maybe he just found her ugly. Carol didn't know why he wouldn't look at her, she just thought it was really cute.

"We don't have venison very often. Butcher's rarely has it. I used to be able to make a mean venison chili and jerky." She said, holding the straps of her bag tightly in her small hands. Carol's mouth watered at having a bowl of venison chili, even if it was in the middle of summer. There wasn't a meal better than venison chili and homemade corn bread – if you asked Carol.

"M'sure the store has it." The strange boy mumbled, having shrugged the crossbow behind his back again. Carol would tell that talking to her was making him uncomfortable, but she hadn't seen someone take down a deer that skillfully before, and it interested her. She wondered who taught him how to shoot that well – and with a difficult weapon like a crossbow. The curly blonde girl could shoot with a pistol and a shotgun, but she could never dream of being able to shoot a crossbow.

"It does. Takes like shit though." She looked at him and licked over her thin lips, wondering if she should just leave him here and go find her friends at the lake. But she was intrigued by him and he wasn't going anywhere so he obviously didn't have much of a problem talking to her. Or he was just too sigh and awkward to tell her to leave him alone. "I'm Carol." One of her hands slipped into the pocket of her cut off jean shorts and bounced on the back of her heels. "This is where you tell me your name." She can't help but grin at him and he just stared at her.

"Why? I ain't gonna see you again." He argued her, one of his hands gripping his crossbow with his hand. If he was a worse person he might have threatened to shoot her with his crossbow to get to shut up. Besides, she was kind of cute to look at. The only people he looked at were his brother and father and they were both ugly as shit.

"Well, if you aren't gonna tell me I've just got to give you a name myself." Carol said, bringing her hand up to her face and tapping her chin slightly. "I think I'll call you Bambi, on account of the doe you just killed." She grinned and looked at him as if she was never more proud of herself.

"My name ain't Bambi." He growled at her and it sent shivers down Carol's spine. She was sure he wasn't going to try to hurt her (which was something that was great to know when you were teasing someone) even if he looked like he was going to shoot her with his crossbow. Carol licked her lips and shrugged at him.

"It is now." She said and took a step back. She figured leaving now might be a good idea right now and her friends must be wondering where she was. Carol pulled her hand out of her pocket and waved at the boy she had Christened Bambi. "See you later, Bambi." Carol teased as she started to walk past him and over the doe he killed.

"It's Daryl not Bambi." Carol smirked as she walked by, having gotten what she wanted out of him and she glanced over her shoulder.

"I like Bambi better." Carol teased and really hoped that he wouldn't shoot her with his crossbow as she walked away from him.

Daryl grumbled to himself as he took two steps over to the deer and pulled out twine to wrap around it's legs. He looked up and watched Carol as she walked away from him. Despite annoying the fuck out of him, the interaction wasn't fuckin' terrible. She was cute and had a nice body, but Daryl really doubted he would ever see her again. He pulled the doe up on his shoulders and started to walk away from the spot he'd meet the strange girl.

Carol grinned as she walked down the small hill towards the lake where several of friends had been waiting for her. When she reached a line of logs that had been re-purposed by her friends to be used for benches, Carol set her bag down and pulled her boots off. "Hey, there you are. Where the hell have you been?" Carol's best friend, Anna, asked as she walked over to Carol, wrapped up in a beach towel. Carol looked up and let her feet rest on top of the soft ground, shrugging.

"Got held up in the forest. I was enjoying some time in the woods when I almost got shot by a bow." She exaggerated, shrugging as she picked up her bag and pulled her sketchbook and drawing pencils out of her bag. She would have just gotten straight up and gotten into the water, but she wanted to draw – she needed to draw.

"Let me guess, shortish brown hair, flannel shirt and vest? Looks like he doesn't know what a shower is?" Carol looked up at Anna and frowned, knowing that Anna also knew who the boy was. Her friends weren't always the nicest people if you weren't from the good part of the town they lived in, which was why they had never been over to Carol's house. Her house wasn't _bad_ but it wasn't as good as some of the houses that her friends lived in., Her house was modest; one floor with three bedrooms and one bathroom. Only two people (and one dog) lived there, so it wasn't like they needed a lot of room. When she didn't say anything to Anna, she went on. "Probably one of the Dixon boys. Dale or something."

"Daryl." Carol corrected as she started to flip through her sketchbook, looking for an empty piece of paper. She didn't looked up at Anna as she flipped through her sketches, only turning her head to look up at her when she found a blank page halfway through her sketchbook. "His name was Daryl." Carol didn't know why she felt the need to correct Anna, it wasn't like she actually gave a shit what his name was.

"Whatever. He's dirty and gross and his brother is even worse." Anna rolled her eyes at Carol and sat down next to her on the log. "He didn't try to hit you over the head and take you back to his cabin in the woods did he?" Anna joked, laughing at her own cruel joke about him. Carol picked up one of her pencils and stuck her other two in her notebooks binding.

A scowl formed on Carol's face at her joke and she shook her head. "No, he didn't. He was really nice." Carol shrugged and began mindlessly sketching the woods she was in earlier.

"He's probably never even seen a real woman up close. You really should be more careful in those woods, Carol." Anna said. Carol thought of the knife she kept in her bag tucked away in a secret pocket, of all the guns back at her house her Daddy bought after a break in and the German Shepard he'd bought her to keep her safe.

"I can handle myself, Anna, but thanks." Carol said, keeping her head down as she continued to sketch. Anna left her alone to continue her sketch, and it wasn't long before Carol what she was drawing. No, not what she was drawing but _who_. She shut her sketchbook shut when she realized she had began to draw Daryl, but then opened it back up to continue the drawing; hoping that her friends didn't notice she was drawing him.

Daryl stopped at the trailer he lived in with his brother (and sometimes their father whenever he came back into town) and walked around the back, setting down the doe he had killed in the forest on a table they kept in what little of a backyard they had. He didn't care much that he lived in a shitty trailer with his brother. Sure when they were younger they had an actual house they lived in their Ma and Pa but after Ma died, Pa's drinking got even worse and they weren't able to keep their house. They barely saw their father anymore, and Daryl was just fine with that.

Daryl entered the trailer and ran a hand through his brown hair, glancing at his brother who was slumped over on the couch, watching something stupid on the 19 inch television they had in the living room. Merle looked up at Daryl upon hearing him come in the trailer and raised his beer to him. It was only about noon, but Merle had probably had two or three beers in him already.

"You bring us home something good, baby brother?" He asked, the alcohol having no affect on him. Nowadays, it took up to ten beers for Merle to actually feel anything from it. Daryl nodded and jabbed his thumb into the direction of their little backyard.

"Got a deer in the woods. Right in the head. Should last us for a while." Daryl mumbled, biting down on his thumb nail. He walked back into the little kitchen they had and opened the fridge. They had nothing but beer, a jug of milk he was sure expired a while ago and some bottled water Daryl had bought after the last time he sold some meat to the butchers. Mention of the butchers brought him back to the conversation he had earlier with the girl in the woods. If he and his brother didn't need the deer, he'd take some back to the butchers and sell it. He had gotten some good money for deer last time he was there. Daryl heard Merle get up from the couch and look out the back door, hooting and hollering when he noticed the deer that was in the backyard waiting for Merle to cut it up and cook it.

"Ya done good, Daryl. Real good." Merle said as he walked past Daryl to find the knife he used for cutting up deer. "We Dixons are gonna eat up real well for a while." Daryl rolled his eyes at him but he appreciated Merle's comments. Hunting was one of the only good things that Daryl could do, and Merle didn't let him forget. Taking a water bottle from the kitchen, Daryl mumbled towards Merle to let him know when he got the deer ready for cooking and he walked back to the one room that was in the trailer. Merle was nice enough to let Daryl have the actual room and Merle slept in the back room that had no real door. When their Pa would come around, Daryl would sleep in the back room on the floor while Pa slept in Daryl's room. He never objected to it, he knew better than to do that.

Daryl shut the door behind him, set down his crossbow against the wall and lied down on the bed that rest in the corner of the room. He leaned his head back and let out a sigh, shutting his eyes for a brief moment. Why had the conversation he had with Carol in the forest bothered him more than it should? Maybe it was because it was the first time that someone from town was actually nice to him, even if she was teasing the hell out of him. He wasn't sure how to talk to people – especially women. He didn't go to school, rarely left the woods unless it was to go to the store which he rarely felt the need to do. He didn't like dealing with the people staring at him while he went around town. He preferred the woods. No one out there was judging him, no one was trying to talk to him. He was safe and alone out there, which was just the way Daryl liked it – though a small part of him hoped that it wasn't the last time that he saw Carol.


	2. Two

For the past few days, Carol had spent more time buried deep within the woods than she ever had before. She _said_ it was because she didn't feel like being around people and she just wanted to be alone in the woods with her sketchbook, but subconsciously she knew it was because she had been hoping to see Daryl again. Every day since then around noon Carol went out into the woods, going deeper and deeper into the woods everyday. She didn't know much about the woods aside from the path to the lake, so it probably wasn't in Carol's best interests to continue to go deeper but how else was she supposed to know about them unless she explored? It wasn't like her father was home to worry about her even if she did get lost in the woods.

Carol stood under a tree for a few seconds before checking around the area around to make sure that there wasn't any animal stool or poison ivy or poison oak before she slid down to sit under the tree. She pulled her sketchbook out from her bag and rest it on her bare legs before pulling out one of her pencils. She flipped through her book to find her most recent blank page and tapped her pencil against the top corner. When a squirrel stopped in front of her. She smiled and looked back down at her sketchbook, beginning to draw the squirrel in front of her. She found that drawing animals was the easiest thing to draw for her, next to people, then scenery.

After a few minutes of drawing only the squirrels face, she looked up and studied the squirrel. This would have been a lot easier if she had thought to bring her camera with her, but she hadn't bought film for it in a while. She made a mental note to buy film for her camera – but she knew that she'd forget even if she wrote it down. While she was studying the squirrel, she noticed something wiz by her and saw the squirrel get impaled by an arrow. Carol shouted in surprise and jumped from the spot she was sitting on but she smacked her head against the tree and fell back. She could hear soft laughter and she lifted her head up to see Daryl leaning against the tree. Carol picked up the nearest thing she could find, a few small rocks and tossed them at Daryl. "You did that on purpose!" Carol exclaimed, even though she had no idea if he actually had done that on purpose.

"I couldn't see ya there, it was just luck." Daryl coughed and walked over to the squirrel that was lying on the ground. He pulled his arrow out of it and he pushed it back into his quiver, picking up the squirrel and dropping it into his bag. He turned back to look at her and noticed the sketchbook and the unfinished drawing of the squirrel lying on the ground as she sat up. "Do you draw?" He asked. Carol looked up at him, resting her arms on her knees.

"Yeah, I draw. Well, I try to. I don't think my stuff is that great but.. it's something to do." The blonde said, pushing her hand out of her face and tucking strands of her hair behind her ear. Daryl stared at her for a few moments before he spoke.

"Can I.. look?" Daryl asked, stuttering over some of his words. Living with his abusive father and his drunk brother, Daryl didn't really ask questions or try to invade people's privacy – especially not without asking. Carol looked up at Daryl when he asked if he could look at her sketchbook and for a moment she didn't even want to let him look at them because she didn't want him to see the drawing of him, but she nodded.

"Yeah... Yeah, you can look." Carol said, picking up the sketchbook from the ground and holding it up to hand it to him. Daryl stared at her for a moment because he as nervous about taking it from her and looking through it, even if he was incredibly curious about what was inside the book. Besides, it meant he could stay out here with her instead of having to go home. "Really, it's okay." She said, feeling like she was trying to urge a skittish dog to let her pet him. Daryl reached forward and took the book from her and began to look through the drawings she had. Carol stared at Daryl while he looked through her pictures and she hoped that Daryl didn't see the one that she drew of him but when he stopped at one page and his face contorted in confusion she knew that he had.

"Is this me?" He asked, turning the book slightly to show her the page he was talking about. The picture in question was of him, standing in front of the doe he had killed when they first met and holding his crossbow in his hand firmly. Carol pursed her lips and shrugged, picking at the top of her boots.

"Yeah.. I draw what... What's around and what I see." She shrugged, hoping she hadn't embarrassed him. When she looked back up, Daryl was staring at the notebook. She wasn't sure if he was still looking at the drawing of himself or if he was looking at another one. He looked embarrassed and Carol felt terrible about it. Maybe she shouldn't have drawn him or let him look through the pictures. "You can keep it if you want... The drawing... Of you." Carol said and pulled herself up from the ground. She looked up at him with wide, trusting eyes and looked down at the notebook. He was still staring at the drawing of him and she wondered if he hated it or if he liked it at all. She couldn't read him very well but she really wanted to know if he liked it or not.

Daryl looked up at her and stared at her for a few minutes. He wanted to keep it, definitely. No one had ever drawn him in a pleasant light before – hell no one had even drawn him before. But he knew that if Merle or his Pa found it, he'd never hear the end of it. Pa already gave him enough shit, he didn't need anymore. "Naw. It's your drawing." Daryl said and handed back the sketchbook book. Carol took it back from him and shut it, holding it close to her chest.

"You sure? Not like I can't draw you again." She teased, giving him a playful smile. Daryl looked down and she saw him blush a little bit. He shrugged a moment and glanced up at her. God, Carol was so pretty and it was just in the most simple was. She wasn't like the girls he saw on the television or the ones that Merle brought home – but she was pretty and it made him feel really confused and feel flustered.

"M'sure." He mumbled, slouching against the tree. "I need ta get these squirrels home. They ain't gonna skin and cook themselves." Carol made a face at the idea of eating a cute little squirrel and watched Daryl as he started to walk away from her.

"Hey! How's that deer treating you?" She called after him. Daryl stopped and turned back around to look at her.

"Real tasty. Merle can't make anything fancy with it so we just fry it." He mumbled. Daryl figured he could easily learn a recipe for something better like chili but Merle was always too drunk and they could never afford the other shit that would go in it. Carol nodded slowly and licked over her lips, glancing down at her boots.

"Ever get the chance, there's this half run down diner in Savannah that sells venison tacos and... they're the greatest things I've ever put in my mouth." Carol said, pursing her lips when she realized what she had said. She let out a light laugh at herself and heard a slight chuckle come from Daryl. "Not that I've put a lot of things into my mouth I mean I've put a good amount of tacos in my mouth and by tacos I do mean food but..." Carol looked up at Daryl and pursed her lips again. "I'm gonna stop talking now and let you go home so you can skin and cook the squirrel I was attempting to draw. And all its little friends and probably family." She let out a weak laugh and turned around and started to walk away from Daryl, internally yelling at herself for saying the tacos were the best thing she'd ever put in her mouth. Not that it wasn't true, they were – but did she have to word it that way?

Carol stopped for a moment and turned back to see if he was still there, and felt oddly disappointed when he wasn't. Letting out a light sigh, the teenager decided to head back to where she came into the woods. She had plenty of things to do at home that she didn't need to sit in the woods and contemplate Daryl.

Carol returned home just as it turned 3:15 PM, having stopped off at the grocery store to pick up something to make herself for dinner tonight. Finding her keys in her bag, Carol unlocked the front door, grinning when her four month old German Shepard, Rocky, came running up to her at the door. "Hey Rocky!" She grinned and set down the grocery bags on the counter and knelt down to pet the dog. Her dad had bought the dog for her a month ago after their first dog – Darcy – was shot and killed in a home invasion. That was around the same time he made sure she always carried a knife, made sure she knew how to shoot several types of guns and kept several types of guns hidden in the house. Her father might not always get to be around to keep her safe, but when he was gone he wanted to be able to do everything he could to keep her as safe as he could.

Pressing a soft kiss to her dogs head, Carol stood to her feet and put the food items she'd bought at the grocery store into the fridge. She took her bag and walked down the hallway towards her room, stopping at the dining room table to pick up the phone book. Her first stop was to go into her dad's office and see if he had any manila envelopes. She found some in his desk, but they were personalized with his name and their address. They would have to do. The blonde went back to her bedroom and let Rocky climb up on her bed before she climbed onto her queen size bed. She flipped through the phone book until she found the D's and found the name Dixon. There was only one – M. Dixon, so Carol thought it was safe to assume that it was Daryl's family. He had mentioned that his brothers name was Merle, so it made since. Carol leaned forward and pulled a piece of paper out of her notebook and wrote a quick note on the paper.

_I know you said you didn't want it, but I want you to have it._

_Carol_.

Opening up her sketchbook, she found the page that she had drawn Daryl on it and tore it out of her notebook, making sure not to ruin any part of the actual picture. She used scissors to cut it clean off and she slipped it into the envelope with the note, sealing it shut. Carol wrote Daryl's name on the envelope and rest it on the end table, leaning back in her bed. Rocky climbed up the bed and situated himself right next to Carol, curling up in her side. She smiled and scratched the head of her puppy, pulling her legs up and pulling her sketchbook onto her lap so she could try to finish her drawing of the cute little squirrel that had been so rudely interrupted.

Daryl's boots crushed on the pavement as he walked down the pathway of the trailer park. There was only a handful of people who actually lived in the park, though Daryl had never met any of them. He thought the number was less than ten, but he could never be sure about it without meeting everyone. But they kept their distant from the Dixon trailer, and he couldn't blame them for it. He wouldn't want to be near his Pa if he was them either. Daryl walked up to the trailer and opened the front door, walking in. From the lack of his fathers car – which he was more than happy about him being gone – and the lack of Merle's car he could tell he was going to be home alone. He didn't care about that either, hell he preferred it.

Daryl set his hunting bag down on the table and walked over to the fridge, opening it up and pulling out the little container of venison. Merle had separated it into several containers since it wouldn't all fit into their fridge all at once. Walking over to the stove, Daryl fished the one pan they had out of the sink, gave it a quick rinse and set it on the stove. He hadn't eaten in days in hopes to make the deer last longer but Daryl was so hungry he might have eaten one of the squirrels completely raw if it wasn't an absolutely disgusting thing to do. He tossed a few pieces of the venison on the pan and sprinkled some salt and pepper on it before turning the fire on to warm the meat up. He put the rest of it back in the fridge and pulled out the water bottle he'd been nursing for a few days. He took a small drink from it and put it back in the fridge before going back to stare at the venison until it was warm enough to eat.

When the venison had warmed all the way through, Daryl dumped it onto one of the four plates that they had and put the pan back in the sink. Normally, he'd eat in his bedroom but if he was home alone, he figured he might as well enjoy having control over the TV before Merle came back. Daryl walked over to the living room and sat on the couch, resting the plate on his lap. He flipped through some of the channels until he landed on a rerun of ThunderCats. Merle might make fun of him for watching it, but he was a damn kid and happened to like watching cartoons. He ate the venison with his hand and set the plate to the side when he was done, lying down on the couch.

When it was late enough and Carol had eaten, she picked up the envelope and piece of paper she'd written down the address on and put Rocky on his leash so she could deliver the envelope and get in his walk. She lived about fifteen minutes from the trailer park in question but it took longer with Rocky smelling everything (and trying to piss on every tree and fire hydrant he saw). Carol walked through the gate, keeping a tight hold on Rocky's leash. She squinted as she tried to read the addresses on the trailer park doors or mail boxes, stopping when she saw the address of what the phone book said Merle and Daryl lived in. She noticed a light was on and got just close enough to see Daryl sleeping on a couch. At least she had the right one.

Carol stared for a moment, thinking of how he was just a kid just like her but they lived on two different plains. She had to be honest, that was something that drew her to him. He was so different from all the people she had ever hung out with. Carol stepped back and knelt down, pushing the envelope through the crack under the door. She hoped he wouldn't be too angry that she had looked him up and found his address. As she started walking from the house, Rocky started barking at a noise he heard away from her. "Rocky, shush. No bark." She hissed, picking up her pace to get away from Daryl's trailer.

She walked back to her house (the same trip taking longer than it should due to her dog) and locked up for the night when she was finally back at her house.

Daryl was pulled out of his light sleep when he heard a dog barking, as one thing he knew was that none of his neighbors had a dog. He stood up from the couch and took a step towards the door, his hand reaching down for the shotgun Merle kept near the couch but stopped when he saw an envelope sitting on the floor. He frowned and walked over to it, picking it up. At first, Daryl figured it was another subpena for something Merle did but frowned when he noticed his name on it. He looked up in the corner and noticed a name on it _Jackson Sanders_, who he had absolutely no idea who that could even be. Daryl opened it up and pulled out a small piece of paper, raising an eyebrow as he read the words on it.

_I know you said you didn't want it, but I want you to have it._

Carol.

As he read it, he knew exactly what else was in the envelope. Daryl's suspicions were confirmed when he pulled out the drawing of him that had been pulled out of her notebook. He smiled briefly, holding the piece of paper in his hands. He was slightly annoyed that she gave it to him anyway (and briefly wondered how in the hell she found him) but was thankful in the end since he actually did want it but hadn't wanted to tell her did. Daryl walked back into his bedroom and found a thumb tack on his dresser before tacking the drawing up on his wall close to a Bruce Springsteen poster. He chuckled to himself before moving to lie down on his bed without bothering to take his boots off.


	3. Three

**I check everyday, but I'm still not Robert Kirkman. SO I still don't own Carol or Daryl. Dammit.**

Carol woke up early in the morning to the sound of her dog, Rocky, freaking out more than she had ever heard him. She sat up straight and climbed out of the bed her first thought being that Rocky had heard someone drying to break into the house. It wasn't the first time it'd happen, but she had never been home for it. Carol climbed out of her bed and walked towards her door, grabbing the shotgun her Dad made her keep tucked on the outside of her closet. Making sure it was loaded and turning the safety off, the blonde left her bedroom and went towards her front door, furrowing her brow when she noticed that it was just Daryl walking away from her house. What had he been doing here? Was he returning her drawing? Or was he just showing up? Carol turned the safety back on and set the shotgun on the counter. "Rocky, sit." She ordered the puppy, opening the door before she grabbed onto Rocky's collar. "Daryl!" She called after him, attaching Rocky's leash to his collar before leaving the house and jogging after Daryl, who was half way down her driveway.

Daryl turned around when he heard his name called from behind and he stared at Carol, who was wearing nothing but a long t-shirt and (Daryl hoped) shorts, even though he couldn't see them. At her feet was a German Shepard puppy, who no doubt was the one barking earlier. The dog was still barking, but not as much as it was before. He turned his attention back to Carol, trying to stare only at her face and not her long legs. "Hey.." He mumbled, looking down at her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, bringing one hand up to her hair and pushing it out of her hair. Considering the fact that she thought someone was about to break into her house, she hadn't had time to brush her hair or use the bathroom before running downstairs with a shotgun. She knew she must look a mess right now.

"Just uh... Bringing you some venison." He nodded towards her front door and she turned her head back to see a small tub sitting on the bench on her front porch. A smile formed on her face and she turned back to face Daryl. "To thank you... For the drawing." He mumbled the last sentence and she licked over her bottom lip. Carol didn't want to embarrass him by asking if he liked the drawing or was mad she looked him up that way she decided to go against asking him any questions about it.

"Do you wanna come in? You look hungry and its hot and.. its a decent walk back to your house." She pursed her lips and couldn't believe that she had just invited Daryl into her house. She hadn't wanted to say 'its a long walk back to your trailer', even if it was what she meant. Carol didn't believe that you had to have a nice house to call it your house. It wasn't a building that made a house, it was how you felt in it. "I just went shopping last night and I got bacon.. Who doesn't love bacon?" Carol asked, really hoping that he'd say yes. She say his eyes widen at the mention of bacon and he glanced around the neighborhood she lived in.

"Ya sure ya want people seein' me around here?" Daryl mumbled. He knew exactly what people said about the Dixon family and he never blamed them. Once when he was a kid, he cared what they said and tried to change their minds by being a good student in school that never caused trouble but he quickly learned that they didn't give a shit how _good_ Daryl was, he was still a _Dixon_. He was surprised when Carol shrugged and told him that she didn't care what they thought and once again extended the invitation to come in for something to eat. Daryl's mouth watered at the idea of getting to eat bacon – something that he hadn't eaten in years. Giving one more glance around the neighborhood, to Carol's dog and then to her with her wide eyes staring up at him, Daryl nodded and mumbled that he'd like to come in.

Carol smiled when he said he wanted to come in and she clicked her tongue. "Great, come on." Carol said and turned around and began to walk back up her driveway. "Rocky, come." She ordered the dog and gave a slight tug on its leash. The dog stared at Daryl for a moment before turning around and following its owner. Daryl walked up behind Carol and he couldn't help but stare at her legs when she walked. He was a sixteen year old boy, how could he not at least look? Carol stopped at the bench on her front porch and picked up the container of venison, opening the door open so she should step in the house. When inside the house, she took Rocky's leash off and let him run back into the house. She glanced back at Daryl who was still standing on her porch and pushed the door open more with her foot. "Come on." She said with a slight smile. Daryl cleared his throat before he walked into her house and looked around.

Her house was a lot nicer than his trailer, which he had expected. She had a full kitchen with a really nice table and a living room. Her house seemed to go on forever, though Daryl knew that was impossible. His eyes stopped on the shotgun sitting on the counter and turned to look at Carol, who was smelling the venison. His lips twitched up into a smile as he watched her smell the meat and he knew that it was worth it to take some of it over to her. Even with what he had lost by giving her some, he and Merle would still have enough to last them through the week. When she put the venison in the fridge and was pulling out what he assumed was bacon and eggs, he spoke. "'Sup with the shotgun?" He asked, nodding towards the gun on the table. Carol turned around with a carton of eggs and a package of bacon in her hands and laughed slightly. She shut the door with her foot and walked over to her stove, setting the food items on the counter.

"I thought you were a robber trying to get into my house and shoot my dog." Carol said, picking up the shotgun and checking once again to make sure the safety was off. When she looked up, Daryl's brow was furrowed and he stared at her. "In March some guys broke into the house while I was at school and robbed the place then killed my dog, Darcy." She explained, glancing down at Rocky who was sitting at her feet like he normally would. "I called my dog screaming and crying and he came home from his trip early. Went to the gun store and bought a bunch of guns, taught me how to use them and bought me a new dog." Carol said sadly, reaching down to scratch Rocky's ears. "I'm always alone, so he's just trying to keep me safe when he can't." She shrugged.

"Sorry about your dog." He mumbled, glancing down at the shotgun then the replacement dog. Carol smiled softly and let out a sad sigh and Daryl wished he'd never asked about the shotgun.

"It's okay. I had ten years with Darcy." Carol bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from shedding any tears and she looked up at Daryl. "Take a seat at the table, I'm just gonna put this upstairs and change." She told him, nodding towards the table. She turned from him and left him in the kitchen as she went down the hallway to put the shotgun back in its place, picking up shorts and a David Bowie t-shirt. She went into the bathroom and brushed her hair and teeth before changing into the new outfit. She felt much better in this than just her long t-shirt (that she can't believe she left the house in). Carol came back out and saw Daryl sitting at the table, looking like a lost kid in a shopping mall. She smiled softly and licked over her lips. "How do you like your eggs?" She asked, breaking him out of his trance. Daryl looked over at Carol and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Uh.. Dippable?" He asked, unaware of what those eggs were actually called. Carol smiled and nodded before walking over to the stove. She bent down and pulled out two pans from a small cupboard.

"Sunny side up, coming up." She said, setting the pans down on the stove. Quietly, she began to fry bacon and crack eggs into the pan. After a few minutes of silence, she looked back at him and spoke. "How come I've never seen you at school?" Daryl turned his eyes back to her and shrugged.

"Pa pulled me out when I was young.. We couldn't afford all the sh- crap we needed for it." Daryl mumbled. Carol felt so bad for Daryl when he said that. How could a parent just pull their kid out of school and not give them an education? Carol couldn't imagine her father doing that to her. "Ma taught me for a while but.. She died..." He shrugged. Carol's heart ached for Daryl and she wanted to throw her arms around him and hug him. She knew what it was like to lose her mother, as her own mother died when she was really young. She didn't remember her Mom much at all, but she knew what it was like to not have a mother.

"I'm sorry." Carol said softly, wishing she hadn't even brought school up. "I lost my mom too.. When I was seven." She shared, wanting him to know that he wasn't alone in this. Daryl looked over at her with incredibly sad eyes and it made Carol want to cry. She turned back to the bacon and began to flip it, bringing the hand that was closest from Daryl and wiped her face off. It was silent again in the kitchen and Daryl looked back at the papers that were sitting on the table. He had no idea what they were, but they looked like applications for something.

"Goin' somewhere?" Daryl asked, breaking the silence. Carol turned back and looked at him, then at the piles of papers on the counter.

"Oh, crap. I forgot about these, sorry." She said and walked over the table. She pulled the papers back into neat stacks and set them in the corner. "I fell asleep filling these out last night. They're college applications." Daryl felt his stomach drop, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like they were friends or anything. The broad just took pity on him and his pathetic life.

"College?" He questioned. Carol looked at him and shrugged before walking back to the stove.

"I thought if I applied early, I'd have time to save up. I doubt I'll even get in to the schools I want to go to." She said softly before flipping the eggs. She was quiet for a little longer while she finished up breakfast for the two of them and she made both of them plates. Carol put forks on each plate then set the plates down on the table, one in front of Daryl and the other across for herself. She went to the fridge to get out milk and walked over to the cupboard. She turned around to ask Daryl if he wanted milk just to see that he had already dug into the eggs and it made her heart ache that he was _that_ hungry. "You want milk?" She asked. Daryl looked up at her and nodded.

"Please." He said through a mouth of full food, a blush forming on his face when he did. Carol didn't say anything about it, she just turned around and poured two glasses of milk before bringing them over to the table and sitting across from him. She heard him mumble something about the eggs tasting good and she smiled, mumbling her own thank you before beginning to eat. She tried not to stare at him while he was eating, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. Carol could tell that he wasn't a talker, even though they had been talking a decent amount. Most of what he said she could barely understand because he was almost always mumbling. She couldn't say that she really minded the silence, she liked it actually. The friends that she surrounded herself with always wanted to fill each moment of silence with so much noise. When she looked up again, Daryl had cleaned his plate and was downing the glass of milk. Carol hated how the sight made her want to cry and she cleared her throat before speaking.

"There's more bacon on the stove if you want some more. Milks in the fridge too." She said softly. Daryl looked up at her and he wondered if he should take advantage of how fuckin' hungry he was. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until it felt like there was an unlimited amount of food. "It's okay. There's no way I can eat all that bacon on my own anyway." When Carol urged him to take more of the bacon, Daryl slowly stood to his feet and walked over to the stove. While he was getting more bacon, Carol filled his glass of milk back up, sitting back down when he walked over to the table. She didn't say anything when he sat down with his plate full of bacon and a piece already in his mouth. Carol returned to eating her eggs, staying silent for a few moments before she spoke. "What does squirrel taste like?" She asked, holding a piece of bacon dipped in yolk in her hand.

Daryl looked up at her and chewed the last bit of bacon in his mouth and swallowed, dropping the piece of bacon in his hand onto the plate and wiping his hand off on his shirt. "What?" He asked, unsure if she asked him what he thought she did.

"Squirrel. You were hunting squirrels and killing my model yesterday.. So what's it taste like?" Carol asked before biting into the piece of bacon she had in her hand. Daryl stared at her for a few moments before trying to think of how to explain squirrel.

"Tough. Gamey. Gotta be cooked right." Daryl shrugged and wrapped his hand around the glass of milk and brought it up to his lips to drink from it. He briefly wondered if she was going to throw out the dishes that she let him use, like he'd seen a restaurant do after he and Merle ate there.

"Let me guess, Merle's real good at that?" She asked with a light teasing grin. Was Carol actually curious about what squirrel tasted like or did she just want to keep him talking? Carol wasn't very sure what her intentions were, but she continued to press on. If she ever made him uncomfortable, he wasn't saying anything about it.

"M'better at squirrel than he is." Daryl shrugged, feeling stupid about bragging about better than his brother at cooking a fuckin' squirrel. Carol tilted her head and smiled softly. She tried to picture Daryl standing over a stove, cooking squirrel. She bit down on her bottom lip and watched him for a moment.

"How do you cook squirrel?" She asked, her eggs and bacon left forgotten in front of her as she asked about cooking squirrel. At first she thought it was just to keep him talking, but now she realized that she was genuinely curious. About him, about how he lives and who he was. Her friends might have told her to stay away from him, but she didn't want to. She wanted nothing more than to sit here and listen to him talk about squirrel.

"Like chicken, suppose. Fry it, that's how I know how to make it." Daryl shrugged and broke apart a piece of bacon, eating the smaller half. "It's one of the only things I can do, other than hunt." Carol crossed her legs over her each other on the chair and he looked up at while he chewed. She seemed genuinely interested in what he was saying, but Daryl couldn't figure out why. He was just a dumb hick and she was looking at him like he was the most interesting guy in the world.

"You should bring me some sometime. Cooked, preferably. I would not be able to figure out how to skin and cook a squirrel." She blurted out. Daryl raised an eyebrow at her and Carol blushed, glancing down at her legs crossed together. "Or not, you don't have to." She said, pushing a strand of curls from her face. Had she really just asked him to bring her a squirrel? What if he did bring her a squirrel, would she eat it? What the hell was the girl doing?

"'Can do that." He mumbled, biting into another piece of bacon. It was the least he could do since she made him breakfast and didn't care that he was eating all of it. Carol looked up at him and smiled softly before starting to eat her food again. Daryl glanced over at the fridge and nodded towards it. "What're gonna do wit the deer?" He asked Carol. She looked up at him and shrugged, thinking of all her possibilities. She could make chili or jerky or even try to remake those tacos. Those were the only things she probably could make with venison, but she didn't have enough to make all of it. She wouldn't complain though, him bringing it over to her was so sweet and she was thankful for it.

"I'm thinking chili, probably. It's one food I know I can get right and it'll last longer than making jerky or tacos." She said, watching him as she spoke. He had mentioned that he'd never had deer chili before, and she opened her mouth to tell him that he could have some once she made some but just before she spoke, she heard the phone begin to ring. "Oh, I'll be right back, it's probably my dad." Carol stood from her spot on the chair and went into the living room where the phone was. Carol sat on the couch and picked up the phone, bringing it up to her ear. "Hello? Hey Daddy. No, I'm fine. Been spending time in the woods, drawing. Yeah, I've got my college applications almost done. I'll mail them in next week."

Daryl could hear the small talk between Carol and her father and he stood from his spot on the chair. He wasn't good with goodbyes or good with conversation and he just wanted to get out of there. Daryl picked up another piece of bacon and shoved it in his mouth. He took a long drink of the milk before darting towards the front door. Her dog didn't bark as he left, so he was able to leave and be halfway down the street before Carol came back and realized he was gone.

"Daryl?" She called, frowning when she noticed that her kitchen was empty. She looked over at Rocky and pursed her lips, letting out a slight sigh. Maybe Carol shouldn't have asked him so many damn questions. Carol picked up her empty glass of milk and tossed it at the wall, cringing when it shattered against the door.


	4. Four

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N: I feel like I should mention something, since I don't really do author notes. I've seen the number of follows and favorites and I appreciate them so much, just as I appreciate every comment I've gotten. I reply to every message I get, so please leave me something if you love the fic. Granted, I've still gotten fourteen and a half chapters written anyway, but still. Anyway, happy Caryling!**

As Daryl walked down the street, he was beating himself up in his mind for just getting up and leaving like that. How fuckin' rude could he have been to the girl who just made him breakfast and actually showed _interest _in him? Daryl cursed and stopped, turning around. He considered heading back to the house and coming up with some lie for why he had left so abruptly. Shit, how could he be so stupid? He turned back around and continued to walk down the sidewalk of the neighborhood.

When he had first walked over here, he had been surprised at the neighborhood she lived in. After first meeting her, Daryl was sure that she lived in one of those really fancy houses across town, not a half-hours walk from his own trailer. Perhaps that made him feel better about their interactions, even though he was still only doing it because he was a dumb hick and she took pity on him. Daryl wasn't stupid enough to think that there was anything to it but that.

Daryl stopped at the entrance to the trailer park and looked up at the trailer he lived in. His Pa's car was still gone and Merle's bike was still gone so it was going to be another night of being home alone. He cursed himself again for leaving Carol's place. Normally, he'd be enjoying the fact that he was going to be home alone but with how he felt at the moment, he actually wished that Merle was home at least. He didn't give a shit if their Pa was home at all. He was happier with him gone. Daryl walked up to the trailer and went inside to get his crossbow and head back out to the woods. They might not need more meat right now, but Daryl needed to shoot something.

It didn't take Daryl more than a twenty minute hike into the woods to find his favorite hunting spot. It was always ripe with rabbits and squirrel, with the occasional deer too. It wasn't about getting food right now, it was just about blowing off some steam. Getting to eat the animals he killed was just a plus right now. A substantial pile of dead rabbits and squirrel lied at his feet before he noticed a deer about twenty feet away from him. If he could get this deer and could sell it at the butchers, he'd probably be able to actually buy some groceries. Daryl licked his lips and began to track the majestic creature, keeping low while he followed it a few miles in the woods.

Loud laughter coming from the left scared off the deer and Daryl cursed, turning his head and taking a few steps towards the noise. He stood on the edge of the forest and looked down towards the lake. He'd been in the lake himself a few times, so he knew the attraction of it and he knew that other people knew it. Didn't mean he liked it, especially when they were chasing off deer. Daryl turned to walk away from the edge when he noticed a head of familiar blonde curls. He stayed for a moment and stared out at Carol, thinking about how beautiful she looked in the moment and he wondered if she was going to go swimming like the rest of the loud as fuck teenagers down there. He shook his head and turned his head to look back at her before starting to head back into the woods.

Daryl stopped when he noticed three sets of legs in front of him and he looked up to see several guys he didn't know but he figured were from the local high school. "Well, if it isn't white trash Dixon number 2." One of them said. Daryl didn't have time for this, he just wanted to find the deer he'd been tracking. Daryl tried to walk past them but the tallest one grabbed a hold of Daryl's arm and pushed him back in front of the small group.

"We talkin' to you, boy." One of the other guys said, looming over him. Daryl wasn't short by any means, but these guys were much taller than he was. Probably stronger, too but that didn't mean Daryl was going to be a bitch about this. His brother didn't raise him to be a bitch about things like this. He taught him to fight and stand up for himself.

"Yeah, and I ain't gotta listen." Daryl scowled at them and tried once again to get passed them. He could always put an arrow in one of them but he knew that wouldn't be the best idea – Merle had always told Daryl that he wouldn't last a day in prison. The teenagers looked at each other, then two of them grabbed his arms. They knocked the crossbow out of hand, laughing when Daryl attempted to fight them off of him. The largest of the teenagers punched him in the stomach a few times, but it was something that he was used to thanks to his Pa. Daryl just dealt with the blows, hoping they'd be over soon.

"Boys, I think we should take this piece of trash down to the lake and give everyone a nice show." The boys snickered to each other and the two guys dragged him down towards the lake. Daryl wasn't sure when they got down to the lakes shore, but it felt like it had been a while. He was used to his Pa's abuse, but abuse from kids his own age was something he wasn't really used to. He heard one of the guys exclaim that _this_ was what happened when you didn't respect those better than you. Daryl felt several boots slam into his stomach and back for a few moments before he heard a voice shouting and getting in between them. He opened one of his eyes and looked up to see tiny framed Carol in the face of the leader of the guys that had dragged him down.

* * *

Carol had been really upset that Daryl had just ditched her when she went to make her phone call, but she supposed she shouldn't be that surprised. From what she knew about the Dixon's, they didn't talk to people unless they had to. Maybe she just made him really uncomfortable. After cleaning up the kitchen, she had sat back at the table with the intentions of finishing the college applications, but when she got a phone call from Anna, asking her to come down to the lake today. She figured that she should make an appearance there, knowing that her friends would probably start thinking she was going Native or something. Carol took a shower and put on a black and white bikini before pulling back on the same David Bowie t-shirt and shorts. She put her boots back on and pulled her bag over her head before she locked up the house and left to go into the woods.

Carol felt terrible about what had happened with Daryl earlier, and she knew she probably shouldn't have pushed him so far to talk to her. Really, she'd just tried to be his friend but if he didn't want to be her friend she'd be okay with it. Not like she didn't have other friends to make up for the fact that Daryl didn't want to be her friend. Actually, Carol didn't think that anyone could not want to be her friend. She was nice, smart, kind of pretty. It was a blow to the ego that he just didn't want to be her friend.

"Hey, you made it!" Anna exclaimed, walking over to her and wrapping her arms around Carol. Carol stopped in her tracks and slowly wrapped her arms around Anna, who wasn't always much for affection like this. She didn't let it bother that her friend was being touchy and she pulled away from her. "So I heard that Daryl Dixon left something for you on your porch then you let him inside? What was it, squirrel?" Anna giggled and Carol pulled away, rolling her eyes at her comments about Daryl.

"No. It was venison and I made him breakfast. We had a nice visit." She said in a stern voice, shrugging her shoulders as her hands slipped into her jeans pockets.

"What are you two friends now?" Anna made a disgusted face as she asked Carol if she was friends with the redneck. Carol thought about it before a second before shaking her head and mumbling that they weren't friends. "Good, because that would be disgusting. He's gross." Carol opened her mouth to defend Daryl again and decided against it. She didn't need Anna going around telling everyone that she had a thing with Daryl Dixon. Carol kicked her boots off and walked over into the water, standing just a few inches in the water. The water felt good on her feet and it was something that she didn't know she needed to do. Carol smiled and shut her eyes, blocking out the noises from her peers.

"Now this is what happens when you don't respect those that are better than you." She heard a loud voice say and she turned to see Ed Peletier standing in front of his two friends who had some guy on the ground beating him up. Carol scoffed in disgust and her eyes widened when she realized it was Daryl they had on the ground. Anger burned in her stomach, despite Daryl having blown her off this morning. Carol stepped out of the water and put her wet feet into her boots, not caring that she was almost a foot shorter than Ed Peletier and his friends.

"Get off of him!" Carol shouted towards Drake and Steven, who were currently kicking Daryl in the stomach and back. She turned away to come face to face when Ed snarling down at her, but she kept her gaze on Ed's face.

"You like this piece of trash, Carol?" Ed snickered as he looked down at the tiny blonde girl. "Looks like trash over trash."

"Back off, Ed. Just because I wouldn't give you a hand job in your dads car doesn't mean I'm trash." Carol's fists clenched together and she just wanted to get Daryl and get him back into the woods where she knew he would be safe.

"Back off, girly, and let the men work here." Ed snarled and grabbed Carol's arm, pushing her out of the way. Had she brought Rocky with her, this where she would have told him to attack but she hadn't brought the dog with her. Carol moved back in place in front of Ed, staring back up at him.

"I said back off him." Carol said, standing just a few inches in front of Daryl. Ed looked down at her and scoffed, spitting at her feet.

"Lets go, guys. This trash isn't worth this much trouble." Ed looked over at Daryl, lying on the ground and coughing. He stepped away from Carol, who then turned to kneel down next to Daryl, glaring at Ed's friends as though she was daring them to do something.

"Come on, Daryl, get up." She said, grasping his arm and helping him get up. He pulled his arm away from her when he was on his feet and she stepped away from him to grasp her bag and pull it over her shoulder. Carol came back to his side and wrapped her arm around his waist. He tried to pull away from her but she looked up at him. "Now is no time to be stubborn, lets just get you back in the woods, okay?" She asked in a low voice, glancing back at her friends who refused to look at her as she helped Daryl into the forest where they had found him. As soon as they were in the woods, Daryl forced himself away from her, stumbling until he was back on the ground, sitting down.

"Ya didn't have ta help me." He mumbled, looking at her with one eye. Carol shook her head and knelt down in front of him, shrugging.

"If I didn't, no one would have."

"I don't need people helping me." Daryl said, shrugging his shoulders only to hiss. He looked back up at her and held a hand over his stomach. If she hadn't been there, he might have pulled up his shirt to check out his stomach. Carol licked her lips and reached into her bag to find the water bottle she kept in her bag. It was still cold, so it should feel pretty good on him. She handed it over to him and he stared at her for a moment before taking it from her and resting it over his stomach. "M'sorry I left." He mumbled, looking down at the water bottle on his stomach.

"It's okay... I figured I must have freaked you out with all my questions." Carol shrugged, pulling a water bottle out of her bag to take a drink from. "I don't normally talk that much, but I was just... curious." She said honestly, licking over her lips. Daryl frowned at her and cleared his throat.

"'Bout what?" He asked, leaning against a tree. The coldness from the water bottle she had given him was helping his stomach feel a lot better, but he still felt the soreness of what happened. Now he really hoped that Pa or Merle didn't come home tonight. He didn't want to deal with them yelling at him for being a bitch. He was sure it would get around that a girl had saved him from getting his ass kicked even further and he didn't need that shit. A part of him was angry that Carol had stopped them because he didn't need a woman fighting his battles, but at the same time he didn't mind it. He hated getting his ass beat by anyone.

"You..." Carol said honestly, reaching back and pulling her hair back and pushing it back. She could see the blush that formed on his face and it made her smile softly, not being able to hide the fact that she liked being able to make him blush like this. Hell, she liked being able to affect anyone like that. "I've never met anyone who can shoot a deer in the face with a crossbow. Or shoot a cute little squirrel in the face." Carol giggled softly and Daryl looked over at her, shrugging. "I think that's pretty badass." The blonde said, a smile forming on her face. Daryl looked at her and raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Ya think m'badass?" Daryl asked her. Carol grinned and nodded, bringing the water bottle to her mouth and taking a slow drink from it. "I think that'd be cooler if you didn't have Bowie on your shirt." He joked. Carol's jaw dropped open and she looked down at her favorite t-shirt, pouting at him. She started to laugh, her laughter echoing through the forest. Carol was sure her friends could hear her loud laughter from the lake and would probably wondered what Daryl could have said to make her laugh that hard.

"Hey, Bowie is awesome!" She exclaimed, glaring at him playfully. Carol tugged on her t-shirt and looked down at the shirt. "Whatever, Bowie doesn't need you." The blonde giggled and bit down on her bottom lip. Daryl chuckled a bit, but it caused his stomach to ache. Carol turned her head to look down at her legs, a few stray giggles leaving her lips. "Do you want help getting back to your house?" She asked, knowing that he had trouble walking. He looked up at her and shrugged.

"You can call it what it is. It's a fuckin' trailer, not a house." Daryl grumbled, but he pulled himself up against the tree. He had worse beatings at home from his Pa, but he wasn't going to tell her that. Carol pulled herself up and brushed her bottom and legs off, glancing over at him as he picked up his crossbow, checking it out to make sure it was all okay.

"Who taught you how to use that?" She asked curiously, putting her water bottle back into her bag. Daryl briefly looks at his crossbow, something he's had for a long time. He got it when he was eight years old and he'd gotten lost in the woods. Merle bought it for him and taught him how to shoot it because he didn't want Daryl to get lost in the woods again without someway to protect himself.

"Merle." He said, his voice not so much a mumble anymore that she had to focus to hear him. Carol thought maybe he was getting comfortable about her. "Bought it for me when I was eight." Daryl looked over at her, shrugging his shoulders again. Carol noticed that he shrugged a lot and she looked down at the large crossbow, trying to imagine a much smaller version of Daryl using it. She smiled slightly and licked over bottom lip.

"Wasn't it hard for a kid to use a crossbow?" She asked. Daryl looked back at the ground and wondered if she was actually going to follow him back to his trailer and 'hang out' with him there. Could he actually bring a girl back there? The idea sounded crazy, even though Merle had brought his fair share of chick back to the trailer. They never seemed to mind, but they weren't like Carol. Carol had more class than the girls that Merle brought home - well Daryl thought at least. For all he actually knew, she was into some really creepy things.

"At first. Then I got used to it." He replied. Carol nodded and licked over her lips, opening her mouth to say something when she tripped over God knows what. She was almost on the ground before she felt a strong hand wrap around her forearm. Daryl pulled her back up to her feet and nodded towards the pile of dead rabbits and squirrels he'd made earlier. "Watch where you're going, woman." He said. Carol mumbled an apology and looked down as he collected the pile of dead animals. She looked down at her arm where he touched her and she felt her skin tingle from his touch. That was the first time _he'd_ touched her and considering his reaction when she was trying to help him up, she thought that he would have just let her fall. When Daryl had collected his animals, he started walking again. It took Carol a moment to realize that he had started walking again and she jogged up to meet him.

Daryl glanced over at her when she jogged up to meet him and he wanted to ask her why she was still following him, if she actually intended on going back to his fuckin' trailer with him but he couldn't find the words, even if they were on the tip of his tongue. She looked really pretty in the natural light of the forest and it made his throat tighten. Carol looked over at him just in time to see him staring at her and she cracked a large smile at his direction and nudged his arm gently. Daryl froze for a second at her elbow touching his arm, but he shrugged it off.

"I'm definitely making venison chili tonight. I know it's really hot out, but there is no meal better to me than venison and homemade corn bread." She shared with Daryl and the sound of the meal made his mouth water. He hadn't had a real good dinner since his mom died. Merle was good at cookin' deer and rabbit, but that was about it. The breakfast he ate with Carol was the first real breakfast he'd had in a while. "You can come over, if you want... Have some. It's real good." Carol offered and Daryl scrunched up his face for a moment.

"Might run out on you again." He warned. Carol shrugged and slipped her hands into both of her pockets.

"After the scene I just made at the lake, I doubt anyone else is going to want to be my friend anyway. I can deal with someone who runs out on me." Carol said, not wanting to freak him out by saying 'a friend who runs out on me', but she figured he got the idea. She licked over her lips and turned to stare at him for a few moments. "You can even bring some squirrel in case you hate my cooking."

"I ain't ever had a meal I didn't eat even if I hated it." Daryl said and Carol let out a soft giggle. The sound of her laugh was musical and Daryl couldn't help but smile softly. Carol stopped at the edge of the forest and looked over at him.

"You gonna be okay getting home?" Carol asked softly, squinting as she looked up at him. Daryl turned and stood in front of her to relieve some of the brightness of the sun and she stopped squinting as much as she was before.

"Yeah, if I'm not, I'll be sure to holler so you can fight my battles for me." Daryl said, slightly embarrassed that a girl fought his battles for him. Carol smiled softly and licked over her lips.

"Don't worry, I'll never come to your defense again. I don't want to bruise your ego anymore than I already have." She teased and shrugged her shoulders. "If you decide to come over, dinner will be ready about six. My feelings will only be a _little_ hurt is if you don't come." Her voice was soft and a lot less teasing. Taking a chance, Carol leaned up and pressed her lips against his cheek softly. Daryl looked down at her with his eyes wide and she smiled at the flush that formed on his face. "You didn't deserve what Ed and his friends did at the Lake. I hope you know that." Carol said softly and smiled at him for a second before turning around and walking away from him towards town.


	5. Five

A/N: Every morning I check in the morning and I'm still not Robert Kirkman. I don't see this changing but I'll keep you updated in case I turn into him. I want to thank everyone who has taken the time out to review, I really do appreciate it! This morning I posted a new story (also a teenage!au) called _Your Eyes Look Like Coming Home _and I'd love it if you checked that too! I was nervous about writing Merle and I know in a lot of parts he's out of character but whatever. I think it's important to him that he takes care of his little brother and I like exploring how much he cares for Daryl. So here's chapter five!

* * *

Carol walked through the grocery store, checking her list off each time she found an item for her venison chili. She was nervous about how much she was going to have to buy because she didn't get her allowance from her father until next week and she would have to carry it all home herself. She had a car but she couldn't even get the thing to start, nonetheless drive it to the store or to a mechanics. Carol stopped at the spice aisle and picked up the last few spices she would need before heading over to the deli aisle. Even though she thought that store bought venison didn't taste as good as fresh, she needed half a pound more venison for the recipe she had. As Carol walked through the grocery store, she noticed the looks and heard the whispers behind her. It seemed that what had happened at the lake already made its way to town. She wasn't worried about what they were saying about her, but she was worried what they were saying about Daryl. She didn't care about what they said about him – he was a decent guy.

Stopping at the deli counter, Carol waited until it was her turn. While she waited, she looked in her bag for her wallet and counted the money she had on her. Currently, she had forty dollars which should be more than enough to buy everything she needed. The staring and the whispering about her seemed to only get worse when she stayed in one place. She tried to ignore it but it was hard. Carol started to return the stares though she didn't respond to the whispers. What she had done for Daryl was no ones business and she hated that everyone and their uncle was making it their business by talking about it.

"Can I get you something?" The guy behind the deli counter asked and Carol looked up, taking a step over to the counter so that she could be heard.

"Yeah, can I get a half pound of ground venison?" She asked, pushing her hair back once again. He nodded and went back to pack up what she ordered and Carol took a step back. She tapped her fingers over the railing of her cart, tapping her foot as she waited.

* * *

Merle Dixon climbed off his bike and took his helmet off, setting it on one of the handle bars. The older Dixon had come up with some money from heading to a pawn shop and he figured he should buy some food for himself and his little brother. It was his job to take care of him while their Pa was gone wherever the fuck he was and even though Merle had no idea how to take care of someone or show they care, he was trying his fuckin' best. He entered the grocery store, picking up one of the hand-held carts and began to walk through the aisles and picking up cheap food. He didn't have a large amount of money so he needed to buy whatever he could that was still cheap.

Merle was always used to heading into town and seeing the stares and hearing the whispers about him – even if his little brother wasn't. It came with the Dixon name and it was pointless to try to stop the idiots in town from talking shit. This trip to town wasn't any different from any other visit, there were stares and whispers about Merle and his family but this time there were other whispers. Whispers about his little brother, who he knew was at home.

"_Did you hear about Carol? She stopped Ed and his boys from beating up the younger Dixon." "I heard after she was done, she went back into the woods with him." "Can't believe a good girl like Carol would let herself get mixed up with the Dixons" "I'm sure the girl will learn her lesson soon. The Dixons are no good, none of them."_

Merle frowned while he listened to the talking and he couldn't believe that his brother let a fuckin' girl save him from some jackasses, but at least his brother wasn't hurt – or hurt too much. He got enough of that from his Pa, he didn't need it from the jackasses in town. He licked over his lips and decided to ignore the idiots that were talkin', heading to the alcohol aisle to pick up another case of beer. When he was in the alcohol aisle, he saw a girl walk by that seemed to fit what people had described her as. _"Can you believe it? Little blonde curly haired girl getting in the face of Ed Peletier. Girls got balls." _Merle remembered. He held the beer case in his hand and followed her from a safe distance, watching her at the deli counter.

She seemed like the opposite of the kind of girl that would stand up for his brother or show any kind of interest in him and Merle didn't trust that one bit. Who the hell was this bitch to make everyone think his brother was a little pussy? Merle walked up to the counter, though he had no intention of ordering anything. He didn't need any of this fancy meat when he could just cook up whatever Daryl brought back home whenever he was in the woods. Merle looked down at the things that she was buying and overheard her order some venison. He wondered what the hell she was making and why the hell she was using store bought venison.

"I heard what you did for my brother." Merle spoke while she was tapping her foot. It takes the girl a second before she turns and looks up at Merle and he gets a full view of her face for the first time. She's pretty, though she's simple. Merle can't help but think he'd like to take her on a ride on his bike. Chicks loved the bike. "Daryl. He's my brother." Her eyes widen for a second but a smile forms on her face.

"You're Merle." She said with a simple nod of understanding and Merle's top lip twitched slightly. "I didn't do anything special. Ed and his friends are jackasses that need to be stopped." Carol turned her head from Merle and shrugged.

"People don't do kind things for the Dixons, especially Daryl." Merle added. Carol didn't look up at him, she was staring forward but Merle could tell that she was listening to him. "I try ta take care of him, teach him things but... it ain't easy. Look, I'm just trying to.. I appreciate it." He can tell that Carol is smiling again and she turned her head back to look at him again. Her shoulders shrug and it caused her hair to fall in her face again. That was about as good of a thank you that he was going to give the kid.

"It's... It was no problem." Carol shrugged and continued to watch for her venison. She stepped up to the counter and took the venison in her hands. When she was gone, Merle heard people whisper from behind that about how Daryl couldn't handle his own problems if a little thing like Carol was helping him out. Merle's stomach burned with anger and he growled slightly towards one of the voices, turning back to looked down at her.

"Daryl don't need help. Boy can take care of himself." Merle said after Carol took her venison from the butcher behind the counter. His voice was much more gruff and angry than it was before. The small blonde turned her head to look up at Merle and she looked surprised about his statement. She didn't back down from the much taller man, but her eyes did shine with a moment of fear. A second ago he had told her that he appreciated what she had done for his brother and now he was growling at her.

Carol pursed her lips as she put the venison in her cart and grasped the handle of it. "I know. I never said Daryl needed help." She said and made an attempt to move past Merle, but stopped when he spoke again.

"He especially don't need help from your kind." Carol scoffed and rolled her eyes, pulling her cart back so she could manevur around him and head towards the check out line. She had everything she needed and needed to get back home if she wanted to get the chili done by the time she had told Daryl to show up – though now she wasn't sure that he was going to come.

Merle's voice causes her to stop and she sighs heavily, thinking that she had been done with this conversation. "Why did you do it?" His voice returns to a softer gruff, the voice he'd had been using when he was speaking to her earlier. She turned around and looked at him, leaning against the cart. "Why did you help Daryl if ya'll ain't friends? I ain't ever heard of you before today."

Carol considered what Merle had asked her and she pursed her lips. She did it because she thought Daryl was interesting, because she wanted to know about Daryl. She did it because she _liked_ Daryl, which would probably make anyone think she was insane. She did it because if she hadn't, she wasn't sure if Ed and his friends would have stopped beating him up. "Because what Ed and his friends were doing wasn't right. Because they wouldn't have stopped until Daryl couldn't move." Her outburst takes Merle back and he stares at her, thinking he needs to pay a visit to this Ed bastard. "Because if I didn't, no one would have. They would have laughed and watched while it happened instead of trying to help him. I did it because it was the right thing to do."

"We ain't never had an act of kindness before. You got something else on the mind?" He questioned, not trusting this girl. Hell, Merle didn't trust a single person other than Daryl. "Cause we don't got shit for you." Carol sensed that Merle didn't trust her and she gives him a sad smile.

"No. It was an act of kindness out of just that – kindness. I don't want anything from it." _Except maybe to see Daryl again._ But she left that out of her answer. When Merle stayed silent instead of replying, Carol turned back around and head over to the checkout lanes.

* * *

Carol couldn't believe what had just happened with Merle Dixon and what he had said to her. Had she done something terrible by standing up for Daryl? Was his life going to get worse now? A part of her hated herself for what she had done for him because she didn't want his life to get worse, she was just trying to help him. If she hadn't, she was sure that Daryl would have been heading to the morgue right now. Carol left the grocery store with her bags in hand and began to walk towards the main street, yelling at herself as she walked down the street. At the moment, she really hated that she didn't have a car to put these in or something to get her home faster but at least it was only two bags of groceries.

After a half hour of walking and berating herself, Carol walked up her driveway and set one of the bags down on the ground so she could unlock her door. From inside the door, she could hear her dog barking and freaking out and she called into the house as she unlocked it. "Hi, Rocky! Mommy's home!" She called out to her puppy as he ran up and jumped on her stomach. "Down boy, let Mommy take care of these bags before you jump all over her!" Rocky followed her into her kitchen and Carol set down the bags on counter before kneeling down and beginning to pet her dog. "Yes, that's my boy, oh Mommy loves you so much." She said, letting him lick over her face for a few minutes until she started to prepare the venison chilli. Carol didn't need to look at a recipe for this one, she knew it by heart.

Carol left the chili to cook and turned it on low before she left it on the stove to go take a shower. Even if Daryl didn't come over, she might as well shower and get dressed. Carol undressed in her bedroom and picked out a pair of nicer shorts and a red tank top to change into after her shower. It was still far too hot out for her to wear anything like a t-shirt or jeans, but she didn't even think that Daryl thought of her _that_ way for her to have to worry about it. After Carol had showered, tried to control her curls and changed she went back downstairs into the kitchen. She was shocked to see it was almost after six by the time she had started making her corn bread. She shouldn't have spent so much time at the store or in the shower. It was just after six thirty when she heard a knocking on her door and a smile formed on her face when she realized it must be Daryl.

She took a few deep breaths as to not hide her excitement and tried to force herself to not smile. "Just a minute!" She called out to the door and put Rocky on his leash. While he was still fairly trained, he still got really excited when he met new people. Carol tugged on the leash and walked over to the front door, taking another a breath before she opened it. Carol smiled at up at Daryl, who stood there awkwardly. She could tell that he had taken a shower and changed his clothes, and it surprised Carol a bit. He cleaned up really nicely, even if he was still wearing the same basic outfit. "Hey." She said with a soft smile.

"Hi.." Daryl said, a sheepish smile forming on his face. "Brought ya some squirrel. Fried, like I mentioned." He added, holding up a brown paper bag. Carol's smile widened as she took the bag from him and she licked her lips when her fingers barely brushed his.

"Thanks, Daryl." She said with a smile. Carol was taken back when an arm came around and rest on Daryl's shoulder and her eyes widened when she noticed Merle with a wide grin standing behind Daryl. "Hi... Merle."


	6. Six

**A/N: Alright, so here is chapter six. I'm leaving a warning of mentions of past animal cruelty, as Carol talks about her dog that was shot. Trust me, there's a point to all of this. Really, there is. I swear. Everything I do has a point. Would I lie to you guys? Happy reading! Oh, again I don't owe Daryl and Carol. Oh how I wish I did.**

* * *

After Daryl had made it home, he suffered through how much moving hurt him at the moment to skin and prepare fried squirrel for Carol. He couldn't explain it, hell he didn't _want_ to explain it, but the way she suggested he come over and bring squirrel... It made him _want_ to be around her. And he didn't _want_ to be around anyone. Hell, he barely wanted to be around himself most of the time but he wanted to spend his free time with Carol. Why wouldn't he? She was pretty and seemed like a decent girl. And most of all, she was _nice_ to him. He'd gone sixteen years in his life with very little kindness in his life that he found himself craving it when he finally got it from someone.

Daryl stuck the squirrel into the fridge and hoped that Merle wouldn't think it was for him and eat it himself. Hell, he hoped Merle stayed out of the house until after he got back. He didn't want Merle tormenting him about seeing a girl like this. He'd probably just tell him that the girl didn't actually want him and was just fuckin' with him. Daryl walked towards the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He could see the bruise already forming around his eye and he groaned softly. He didn't know how he was going to explain this to Merle. He turned around to face the small shower they had and he turned on the water. Considering he was always in the woods, Daryl didn't take a shower too often. What was the point in getting clean if he was just going to get dirty back in the woods? Daryl pulled his shirt over his head and brought his hands over his stomach, hissing at the touch. He knew this feeling, it was one that he was used to from his father. Daryl removed his pants and boxers, stepping into the hot water.

He hissed at the hot water beating on his sore body and it was then he realized just how fuckin' sore he was. Daryl picked up a bar of soap he was sure hadn't been touched in a while and rinsed it off before using it to wash the dirt off his body. There was a bottle of shampoo in the corner of the shower, but he didn't know how long it had been in there. Could shampoo even just stop working? Daryl shrugged it over and used a bit of the shampoo to wash his hair. He stayed under the water for a little while longer, the water now soothing his body. Daryl shut the water off and climbed out of the shower, using a small hand towel to dry off his body. He was still home alone, he could tell from the silence in the trailer so he didn't feel weird about leaving the bathroom naked with his clothes bunched in his hands. Daryl changed into another pair of jeans that were torn up and had stains on them but they were the nicest pair he had. He pulled a a black t-shirt over his head and shook his wet hair out like a dog before lying down on the bed.

Looking up at his wall, he noticed the drawing of him that Carol had done and a small smile formed on his lips about it. It was probably the nicest thing that he actually owned and he knew it was risky having it up on his wall. If his Pa saw it, he would be really angry. Probably because no one would ever draw his Pa's ugly mug. He chuckled to himself, but fell silent when he heard the front door open and shut.

"Daryl, ya here?" He heard Merle call out to him. Daryl groaned while he sat up and he walked out of his room, shutting the door behind him before he walked into the kitchen. Merle set two bags from the grocery store down on their rickety table and looked up at his little brother. Daryl was scared that Merle would make some comment about his eye, but Merle didn't bring it up. "Came into some money, bought ya some food." He said, nodding towards the bags. Daryl inched closer to the two bags of food and glanced inside. It was mostly snack food, which Daryl was appreciative of. "Gonna go out of town again with some friends, take care of some business. Figured ya could use some better food." Daryl looked up at him and mumbled a thank you, reaching into the bag of food and pulling out a fruit pie. His mouth watered at the sight of it and he sat down at the table, opening the package. He hadn't had one of these since he was a kid and it tasted just as a good as he remember. "Met your friend Carol today." Daryl stopped eating and he looked up at Merle, knowing Merle knew exactly what happened which is why he didn't make a comment about his eye.

"Oh." He mumbled, chewing slowly and swallowing the piece of food. "They caught me from behind, I didn't have a chance to fight back. Didn't ask her to.." Merle waved his brother off, making a face at him. Daryl fell silent again and mumbled a pathetic apology, which Merle pretended to not hear. He sat down across the table and picked at his thumb. Normally, Merle would give him hell for letting a girl fight his battles but after Carol had told him that if she hadn't done something, Daryl would probably be dead he decided to lay off him. Daryl fell silent and continued to eat the fruit pie, making no attempt to savor the treat. When he was finished with the snack, he spoke again. "She invited me over for dinner... Venison chili." He said. Merle looked over at him and looked at his baby brother. By his cleaner appearance, Merle could tell he was going to head over there. For a while, he'd wondered if his brother was gay since he never tried anything with the ladies, and he smirked slightly. "Shut up, Merle. It ain't like that."

"Whatever you say, baby brother. If it ain't 'like that', then you won't mind ol' Merle tagging along. Could use a nice meal before I head out of town." Merle said, staring at his brother to gauge how he would respond to that. A visible frown formed on his face and he wiped his hands off on his pants.

"Don't try shit, Merle. She's like my age." Daryl scowled, fighting the urge to dig into the bag for another snack. Merle stood from the spot on the chair and slapped his hand over Daryl's shoulder.

"Just how I like 'em, baby brother." Merle smirked and nodded towards the two bags of food. "Take those into your room in case Pa comes back. Bought those for ya, not that jackass." He told him, walking towards the back room. "Wake me up when it's time to go, gonna take a nap." He called out to him. Daryl picked up the bags and took the bags into his bedroom, sticking them under his bed. Moments of kindness like this from Merle were uncommon, so he didn't question it. Daryl lied on his bed and stared at the old clock on the wall until it was six o'clock and time to go.

* * *

"Merle, wake the fuck up!" Daryl shouted in the back room on his fourth attempt of waking his brother. He heard groaning from the back room and head into the back, picking up one of the empty beer bottles and tossing it at him. Merle rolled over onto his back and looked up at his baby brother, wondering why the fuck he was waking him up until he remembered he was supposed to go with Daryl to his friend Carol's. Merle groaned and sat up, pulling his shirt off as his brother walked out to the kitchen. Merle put on a clean t-shirt and grabbed his leather jacket, pulling it on. He didn't bother grabbing the keys to his bike, there was no way he was letting Daryl ride bitch on his bike. They'd just have to walk down to the house.

Merle walked into the kitchen and looked at his brother, who was holding a brown bag. "Ya bringing dessert over to your girlfriend?" He teased, unable to stop himself. Daryl lifted his hand up and gave him the finger before he spoke.

"Naw, she wanted to try squirrel." He explained. Now _that_ took Merle by surprise. She most certainly didn't look like she was the kind to want to eat something like squirrel.

"Surprising." He mumbled to himself and walked towards the door. "We really gotta get an actual car." Daryl followed out the door and together the two walked down to the neighborhood that Carol lived in. When they rounded the corner, Merle spoke for the first time since they left the house. "Thought she'd live in a nicer area."

"Thought the same thing when I came 'round here." Daryl said, nodding towards a small half-white house. "It's up here. Be on your best behavior, Merle." He warned his brother, turning his head to shoot him a glare.

"Always on my best behavior, Daryl. Scared ol'Merle will scare off your girlfriend or she'll prefer me?" He teased unable to help it. Daryl punched his brother in the shoulder, mumbling that she wasn't his girlfriend. Merle chuckled to himself as they walked up to the front door. Merle leaned against the door frame as Daryl knocked on the door.

"Just a minute!" They heard a voice call from inside the house and the sound of a dog beginning to bark like crazy. Daryl's free hand went into his pocket and he waited until he saw Carol in front of him. His mouth watered at the sight of her wearing shorts and a damn tank top. Did this girl even know what she was smoking? "Hey." Carol said and it brought Daryl back to reality and he looked down at her.

"Hi..." He said, a smiling forming on his face. He held up the bag of squirrel before speaking. "Brought ya some squirrel. Fried, like I mentioned." Daryl couldn't help but smile slightly as he she took the bag from him. He froze for a moment when he felt her soft skin brush against his rough skin and he cleared his throat.

"Thanks, Daryl." She flashed him another one of those smiles that made him feel like a little kid at a candy store. Daryl flushed slightly and jumped when he felt Merle's hand slap on his shoulder and he stepped out from the shadows. "Hi... Merle."

Daryl looked at Carol with an apologetic look, licking his lips before he spoke. "Merle insisted on coming. He ain't had a homecooked meal in a while either." Carol's eyes went back to normal and the warm smile returned. She stepped back and turned to look at her dog to order him to sit and stop barking before turning back to the guys on her front porch.

* * *

"Merle insisted on coming. He ain't had a homecooked meal in a while either." The sentence made Carol want to burst out into tears and she gave both guys a warm smile before stepping back. She looked back at her dog, who was barking up a storm at Merle and Daryl. "Sit down and stop barking or I'll put you in the backyard, Rocky." She told him. Promptly, the dog sat down on the floor and silenced and Carol turned back to Merle and Daryl. "Come on in. Corn bread is almost done." She told them as they followed her into the kitchen. When she was turned around, she the tank top exposed a good portion of her back to Daryl and Merle. Her shoulders were littered with scars from a house fire that happened when she was ten. She used to be self-conscious about the scars, but now she looked at it as a conversation piece. She could feel Daryl and Merle both trying to not stare at the scars, and she didn't blame them.

Carol removed Rocky from his leash and he walked over to Merle and Daryl, sitting down at their feet and giving them both a whine. "Pet him, he won't stop whining until ya'll do." Carol said as she walked over to the fridge. Daryl bent down to run his large hand over the the dogs head, a small smile on his face when the dog licked his hand.

Carol returned back to the Dixons, holding a beer bottle in one hand and a soda in the other. She held the beer out to Merle and the soda to Daryl, waiting for them both to accept the beverages she was handing out. Merle took the beer from her with a smirk and opened it with his hand, something that made Carol cringe. Daryl took the soda from her and held it in one hand as he pet the other. "I like ya, girlie." Merle said, taking a drink of the beer. Daryl turned his head and he glared up at Merle for a second before turning his head back to the dog.

"My Daddy's never home to drink 'em so... Shouldn't let them go to waste." She shrugged and walked back over to her cupboards, standing on her tiptoes to reach up to the dishes. Daryl pursed his lips and glanced over at Merle before he took a step forward and set his soda down so he could reach up and grab the closest bowl. Carol looked up at Daryl as he pulled down the bowl, handing it over to her. She smiled and said a soft thank you before moving around him to add the third bowl to the table. She really hadn't imagined that Daryl would bring his brother to their dinner, but she wasn't going to let it throw her off. If she could be around Daryl and have a conversation with Daryl, why wouldn't she be able to have a conversation with his brother? Daryl and Merle stood awkwardly while she walked back over to the stove and lifted up the pan of chili.

When she walked by them the aroma of the chili filed both of their noises and she heard them making appreciative noises towards her food. A smile formed on her face and she turned her head to look back at them. "Smell good?" She asked, setting the pan down in the middle of the table.

"Smells finger lickin' good." Merle said with an amused grin. Carol grinned at both of the Dixon brothers, and went to get a ladle for the chili and spoons for them to eat with. The blonde walked over to the table and set down the spoons.

"Come on, come start eating. Cornbread is on its last minute." The blonde said. Daryl and Merle walked over to the table and sat on one side of it, fighting over who got to get chili first. Carol turned her head and grinned over at the two boys and she reached to get a second ladle, walking over to the table and holding the second one out. Daryl looked up at Carol and he chuckled nervously, having forgot for a brief second that he and Merle weren't at their own place and were acting like little kids. He took the ladle from her and let Merle take the other. She smiled and turned back to check the corn bread while they filled up their bowls. "Ya'll want anything to go in the chili? Daddy likes cheese and crackers in his and I had a boyfriend back where I grew up that liked sour scream with his." Carol pulled the cornbread out of the oven and walked back over to the table, looking down at the full bowls that Daryl and Merle both had. "I don't think ya could fit anything else in the bowls." She commented before taking her own seat and filling her bowl up.

"S'good." Daryl mumbled through bites of food and Carol smiled at both of them. She glanced at Merle, who seemed to be enjoying her meal as much as his brother. Daryl looked up at Carol, who was eating like a civilized human being and glanced at Merle, who was eating like he hadn't eaten in days. He coughed slightly and began to eat at a much slower pace. Carol looked up at Daryl and smiled lightly at him, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. She reached forward and brought a knife into the cornbread, cutting it up into sections before pulling a piece of it out. It was still really hot, but that was the way that Carol herself preferred it. The blonde broke it up into pieces and dropped the pieces into her chili, mixing it up.

"How's your stomach?" Carol breaks the silence between the three of them, glancing up at Daryl. Merle looked up at Carol, looking at his brother and nudging him when Daryl didn't answer.

"The lady's talking ta ya." Daryl looked up at Merle then turned to look at Carol, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?" He asked, looking at Carol with a confused look on his face. Carol smiled softly before she repeated her question about his stomach. "Full?" Merle and Carol both began to chuckle at his response and Daryl frowned before he realized what Carol had meant. "Oh you meant..." Daryl mumbled. He felt embarrassed that he thought she was asking how his actual stomach is. "Fine.. Sore." He shrugged his shoulders again.

Carol felt bad about laughing at Daryl, though she was sure that Merle didn't. She went silent again and looked down at her bowl of food. She continued to eat for a few moments in the silence before she heard Merle's spoon clatter onto the bowl. Merle leaned back against the chair and looked around her house. After taking a drink of his beer (and burping without excusing himself, much to the annoyance of his little brother), he spoke. "Your Pa let ya stay in this house all by yourself?" He asked Carol. She lifted her head up and nodded while she was chewing. "All alone?" Merle asked again. Carol swallowed before speaking.

"Ain't alone. Got Rocky. And several guns." Carol said. She looked over at Merle and reached over to pick up her water bottle, taking a slow drink from it. "Why? You wanna rob my place?" The blonde teased. Merle flashed her a grin and shook his head before taking another drink of his beer. "Because if you did, I would shoot you. We already had a break in this year." Carol said, dragging her spoon through her chili. Daryl looked up at her, knowing the break in she had spoken about. He glanced down at the dog lying at Carol's side then returned to his bowl, taking his last few bites.

"Not gonna rob ya, girlie." Merle said. Carol pursed her lips when he called her girlie – again. She knew he knew her name, he had to have known it when he approached her at the store. She choose not to say anything about him calling her girlie repeatedly.

"You're more than welcome to more chili, Merle. And there's more beer in the fridge, long as you aren't driving." Carol said, nodding towards the fridge.

"We walked down here." Daryl mumbled, his fingers running over the chili ladle. "Merle's only got a motorcycle." Carol nodded slowly in understanding and picked up a piece of the cornbread and handed it over to Daryl. He stared at her for a second before reaching forward to take the bread form her. She smiled softly and pulled her hand away from Daryl.

"I got a car but.. Damn thing can't even turn on. Would have loved it at the store today when I was heading home." Carol said. Daryl glanced up at her and licked his lips before speaking.

"I could take a look at it for you. I know... Some things about cars." He offered. She looked up at him with a wide smile.

"I don't have money to pay you. Well I do, but I've got like ten dollars left and Daddy won't send money until next week." Daryl shrugged and ripped a piece of the cornbread off and popping it into his mouth. Merle watched the interaction between his brother and this girl with an amused look on his face. She seemed to be able to bring him out of his shell. The only time Merle ever heard Daryl talk this much was when their Pa kept forcing him to talk and answer questions.

"Don't have ta pay me in money." Daryl commented, but he knew how it sounded. He began to stutter over his words, feeling ashamed that he implied anything else. "I didn't mean it like that.. Like in food.. dinner." A deep red blush was on his face and Carol laughed softly.

"It's cool. I understood what you meant. You can look at the car whenever you want." Carol smiled brightly at Daryl, then glanced over at Merle who was still just watching them. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable that he was just staring and watching, but she supposed it was better than asking too many questions. "You done, Merle?" She asked, standing and taking her own bowl to the sink.

"Yeah, darlin'." He said. Carol stepped back over to the table and took his bowl, glancing at Daryl who lifted up his bowl and handed it to her. She went back to the sink and set the dishes inside, leaving them to wash later. She looked back at the two guys sitting at her table.

"Ya'll welcome to take some home with you if you want." Carol walked over to the table and sat down to take a drink of her water. Merle refused her offer this time and told Daryl it was probably time to get home since it was getting late. Daryl nodded and stood to his feet. "Alright, um.. See you later.. I guess." She said, wringing her hands together awkwardly as she stood up. Daryl turned his head back to face her for a second.

"I can come by tomorrow and take a look at your car if you want." He said to her as Merle waited on the front porch. Carol lit up at the idea of seeing him again and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Don't have plans except finishing my college applications." Carol said, biting down on her bottom lip. "You can come by anytime.. If I'm asleep, Rocky will be sure to wake me up..." Carol trailed off and glanced at Merle then at Daryl. "See you tomorrow then too, Daryl.." She trailed off, a soft smile forming on her face. "Nice to see you again, Merle." The Dixon brothers bid their farewell, leaving the blonde alone in her kitchen.

* * *

"You seemed in a hurry to get out of there." Daryl commented as they were half way down the road and he turned to look at his brother. "Ya hate her or sumthin'?" He asked. Merle was silent, something that was never good in Daryl's point of view. "Merle?"

Merle looked over at Daryl and cursed to himself and he stopped walking, turning to face Daryl. "Ya remember a couple months ago, I went out with Martinez and came back with a bunch of money?" He asked. Daryl nodded slowly and glanced back down at the road. "I think I robbed ya girlfriends house."

Daryl ran his hands through his hair and swore loudly, walking away from Merle before he turned around and looked at him. "Ya shot her fuckin' dog?" Daryl asked, glaring at his older brother. He knew his brother did a lot of illegal shit to get by but he didn't think his brother was breaking and entering.

"Nah, man, that was Martinez most definitely. I think I was high, man." Merle ran a hand over his head and swore. Daryl shook his head and looked around the neighborhood, cursing repeatedly.

"We'll talk about it when we get home, Merle." He mumbled and continued to walk up the street. Merle cursed to himself and followed his little brother. Out of all the girls that could get attracted to his brother it _had_ to be that one.


	7. Seven

**Hello, again! This chapter is a lot longer than the rest, but I still like it. Checked again before I posted this, but I'm still not Robert Kirkman and do not own anyone in The Walking Dead! Let me know how you guys like this chapter, I pretty much live for reviews!**

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The rest of the night went by incredibly slow for Carol and the next went on even longer. She was worried that she'd scared off Daryl again with how his brother rushed him out there. Had she done anything wrong? Had she offended Merle? Did she offend Daryl? A hundred thoughts ran through her mind in complete confusion and she hated it. Carol hated being confused; she liked to _know_ things. Carol would pride herself on her knowledge of things, even if they were completely pointless things. Knowing things was so important to her and she wanted to know everything. Carol stayed up well into the late hours of the late after cleaning up the kitchen, putting all the food away and finishing her college applications. She was only applying to three schools; University of Georgia, Georgia State University and Savannah State University. She wanted to get into Savannah State the most, she was born in Savannah and thats where all her _real_ friends were. Friends who didn't care about her scars, didn't care that she was trying to be nice to Daryl Dixon, friends who didn't care that her house was only one story. Going back to Savannah was always the plan.

Carol woke to the sounds of her puppy whining at the side of her bed and she opened her eyes, staring over at the dog. "Rocky, what?" She mumbled, staring at her German Shepard. When Rocky heard his owners voice, he turned around and walked out of her room. Carol groaned softly and climbed out of the bed, following Rocky out to the den. He stopped at the back door and Carol walked over to the door, opening the door up and letting Rocky out into the backyard. "Damn dog. You can't use the doggie door?" The blonde mumbled before she started to went to her bathroom to brush her teeth, hair and use the bathroom. She took a shower after she let Rocky back into the house, dressing into a pair of shorts that went all the way down to her knees and finding a tank top under her bed that was still clean. Making a note to herself that she really needed to do laundry, Carol dressed and pulled back what she could of her hair into a bun. Strands of her curls fell out as she expected. Her hair wasn't long enough for a real ponytail or bun.

Yawning for the second time, Carol left to go downstairs and find a laundry basket in the laundry room. She found a pale white laundry basket in the room and went back upstairs, tossing all of her dirty clothes in there. While Carol found doing laundry calming, she also hated to do it and pushed it off as long as she could. Carol walked back downstairs when she heard a knocking on her front door. She frowned for a second and noticed that it was barely passed eleven in the morning, who the hell was at her front door. "Coming!" Carol walked towards the front door, the basket tucked under her arm. She opened the curtain and looked out to see Daryl on her front porch and she smiled. If he was here, he clearly hadn't been scared off by her last night. She bit down on her bottom lip before letting out a breath and opening the front door. "Hey." She gave Daryl a warm smile, looking up at him.

"Was worried I was gonna wake you up again." Daryl said, noticing by the state of her wet hair that she must have been up for a little bit. He glanced at her arms and noticed the laundry basket in her hands, biting down on his bottom lip when he realized that the first thing on the top of her laundry basket was a pair of red lace underwear. He quickly turned his head back to hers, hoping she hadn't noticed him looking at her basket.

"Nope, Rocky did that about an hour ago. Why don't you come in and I'll put these clothes in the laundry and get the garage opened up?" Carol offered, taking a step into the house. Daryl waited a brief moment before he walked into the house, kneeling down when Rocky ran up to him. "I think he likes you." She smiled and licked over her lips. "I'll be back in just a moment." Carol said before turning around to walk away.

Daryl looked up from petting the dog to see the scars on her back again and he wanted to ask about them – they didn't look like the scars that Daryl himself had from his Pa but he knew better than to ask about something like that. After all, he knew how he'd feel if she asked about his scars. Hell, just talking to her was uncomfortable enough for him half the time but if she asked about his scars, he'd probably bolt like he did during breakfast yesterday. Daryl turned back to dog and ran his fingers over the dogs head. "Yous a good dog, ain't ya?" He asked the dog, grinning with the dog started to wag its tail. He remembered the conversation he had with Merle last night about how Merle and Martinez had gotten high and robbed houses – a house he was convinced was Carol's. Merle had sworn up and down that he wasn't the one that shot her dog but he made Daryl promise not to say anything. He promised he wouldn't, he saw the shotgun that Carol and figured that she might actually come after him. Daryl focused his attention on Rocky instead of thinking about Merle or Carol and how pretty she looked with her hair pulled back. He continued to pet and talk to the dog until Rock was standing on only his back legs with his front paws on his shoulders and was licking Daryl's face. Daryl couldn't help but laugh at the dogs actions. It tickled and it made him feel good that _something _liked him, if it was just a dog.

Carol returned to the kitchen when she heard Daryl's loud laughter, something that she had only heard in brief chuckles previously. His laughter was deep, but it was like music to her. She leaned against the table and watched Daryl with her dog until Daryl caught on to her appearance, standing to his feet. Rocky turned and looked at his owner, jumping off Daryl before he barked at Carol. "I know, I'm sorry for interrupting ya'll." She said, walking over to the cupboards. She scratched Rocky's head briefly before she opened one of the drawers under the counter. "Alright, I just have to find the key to the garage's back door now." Carol said, rummaging through the drawer.

Daryl stayed closed by, not wanting to look around in her house. Instead, he watched her rummage in the drawer, thinking of how pretty she was. He'd seen a lot of girls come back to the trailer that were made up with a lot of make up and less clothing than Carol was wearing but he hadn't ever seen a girl that was as beautiful as she was. "Ah ha! Found the key to the garage, and my car keys. Figured those might come in handy." Carol said and held out the car keys to Daryl. He reached up to take the keys and the tips of their fingers touched again.

Carol blinked quickly when she felt a static charge when their fingers touched and she looked up at Daryl. The blonde licked her lips and ducked her head down before speaking. "Come on, lets go." Carol said before turning around again and walking towards the back door. Daryl followed her throughout the house, taking note of the pictures of her and her father – and a woman Daryl assumed was her mother.

Carol stepped out into her backyard and glanced back at Daryl to make sure he was still coming. "Come on, Rocky, I know I can't leave you alone!" She called out to her puppy, who came running back out. Daryl shut the door behind him and watched Carol as she walked through her backyard and towards a gray door. "It's a nice day out, isn't it? Not too hot." Carol said, attempting to make small talk with Daryl. She knew he was a man of few words, but she liked hearing his voice.

"Not yet. Will be." Carol stopped at the gray door and looked over at him, shrugging.

"I don't mind the heat." She said as she unlocked the back door to the garage. "We can open the other door from in here, I think." Daryl walked passed her and into the garage, taking a look at her car. He could tell it was a Jeep but in the darkness of the garage, he couldn't tell what color it was. Carol moved passed him, shivering when her arm brushed passed his. She found a light switch and tried flipping it. "Oh crap. I think the lights out." She whined. Daryl looked up to where there was a light on the wall and he shrugged.

"I can take care of that too while I'm here." He mumbled, nodding at the wall. Carol turned and looked at him with a smile.

"Can you? I don't want to ask too much of you but being in such a small space with no light is really... Freaking me out." Carol said and Daryl could see her breathing begin to quicken. Daryl frowned for a second before he realized that she must be one of those people that hate being in small places. Daryl moved around the car quickly and walked over to the garage door. He found the handle at the bottom of the door and he pulled it up to reveal Carol to the sunlight. The light filled the garage and he saw her eyes shut and her breathing slowly begin to return to normal.

"Ya okay, Carol?" He asked, taking a few steps over to her. Carol opened her eyes, which were shining with wet tears. Daryl didn't think he'd ever seen anyone so happy to see sunlight in his life and his breath caught in his throat as a tear rolled down her cheek. He wanted to reach out and wipe the tear away from her but he didn't want to freak her out. The few times they'd briefly touched were enough to freak him out, he couldn't imagine how it made Carol feel.

"I'm fine... I haven't liked small spaces in a long time, especially dark ones." She said, reaching up to wipe her tears from her face. She cleared her throat and turned to the Jeep, pointing at it. "This is my car. I have never been able to get it to run and I don't know why." Carol said and climbed up onto a table on the wall. Daryl ducked out of the garage to grab the toolbox he bought with him and he looked over at her for a second. What was she doing just sitting there? Was she just going to sit there and watch him work on her car? _Chick's weird._ Daryl thought to himself before he opened her hood and looked into it. After a few seconds, he looked over at her.

"What made ya hate small spaces?" Daryl asked, finding a flashlight in his toolbox so he could get a better look.

"I was living in Savannah with my dad and we had a house fire. I was like ten, I think. I was home alone and I guess our circuits were all wonky." Carol crossed her legs on the table and her hands instinctively went up to touch the scars on her shoulder. Sometimes she would just touch them because it seemed so unreal that it happened. "My back got all burned up, so did the back of my legs. Only second degrees, so they healed pretty quick. Had a few skin crafts that healed up my legs and most of my back but they couldn't do anything for my shoulders after that." She shared. Daryl looked over at her and shown the flashlight near her so he could get a look of her face. She didn't look sad about anything she said. When Carol noticed him looking at her, she pulled her hand away from her back.

"Ya got shit luck, don't ya?" Daryl commented and it took Carol for a moment before she got what he meant and she let out a weak laugh.

"Guess so." She said and shook her head, resting her hand on her cheek for a second. "Any chance you know what's wrong with my car?"

"Could be anything. Could be the battery, the engine itself. Won't be able to tell right away." Daryl said, turning back to look into the engine. He continued to look at it for a few moments before he looked over at her. She was still just watching him and it made him feel a little nervous. "Ya gonna just sit there staring?" He asked. Carol lifted her head up and shrugged.

"Don't got anything better to do. Want me to leave?" She asked. Daryl considered it for a moment before he shook his head. "Good." She bounced for a brief second before leaning back against the garage's wall. She knew she was going to be dirty from where she was sitting, but she didn't care. She was just happy to be sitting there so close to Daryl.

* * *

It went on for hours, Carol sitting on the table and Daryl keeping his head under the hood. They made small talk while he was looking for the issue with her car but it was mostly Carol talking and Daryl listening and asking the occasional question. She talked about school and where she wanted to go to college. She told him about her friends back in Savannah and about how she missed them. She damn near talked about everything under the sun. Normally so much talking would piss Daryl off and he'd tell her to shut up but he actually liked hearing her talk. She was interesting, unlike people he'd met. She'd didn't seem to notice the people who walked by and saw the redneck in her garage working on her car or she just didn't give a shit what they thought. Daryl liked that about her.

It was just starting to get dark when Carol asked if he was hungry and Daryl looked over at her. His stomach had been making noises for a while but he didn't want to say anything to Carol. He nodded and Carol climbed off the table, leaning back and brushing off her backside and legs. "Come on, lets go inside. It's getting late anyway." She said. Daryl pulled away from her car and shut the hood. There was nothing he was going to be able to do for the car right now. "Did you ever figure out what's wrong with my car?" She asked from across the garage. Daryl had waited until she was already out of the garage to shut the door. He walked back through the garage, trying not to knock into anything.

"Don't take m'word for it, but I think it's the engine. Merle'd be able to smell the car and tell ya what's wrong wit it but he ain't here." He said once he came out of the garage. Carol shut the door behind him and locked it, starting to walk back towards the house. Rocky ran up to them while they walked back into the house. "I'll talk to some of Merle's friends at the shop and see if I can't find a battery for ya, then we'll go from there." Carol shut the door behind them and walked into her kitchen, smiling softly.

"I really appreciate this, Daryl." She said softly, running her hands over her shorts. "And the company." Daryl shrugged when she turned around to look at him, grease covered hands slipping into his pocket.

"It's nothing." He said and it only caused Carol to smile even more. Daryl was the complete opposite of how anyone described him and she didn't know how anyone would be so mean to him. "I ain't really around pretty girls that often so it's nice." He said before he even realized what he was saying. Daryl looked away from her and he heard her giggle softly before she spoke.

"You think I'm pretty?" She asked. Daryl turned to look up at her and he flushed at the sight of the deep red blush that was forming on her face. Had she not been told that she was pretty before? Bullshit, she had to have been told it.

"I'd be blind not to." _Okay, the fuck kind of line was that? _Daryl thought to himself and shrugged. He heard Carol take a few steps over to him and he felt her hands on the collar of his shirt, straightening it out. He stilled for a second with her hands so close to his neck and shoulders that barred so many scars he worked so hard to keep covered up. Daryl looked down at her and swallowed his own air, standing completely still.

"I think you're a very handsome man." Carol's voice is so fucking soft and gentle and it drives Daryl absolutely crazy.

What the hell was the next move he was supposed to do? What would Merle tell him to do? On a second thought, he should definitely not think 'What Would Merle Do' in this situation. She smiled softly at him and let out a soft breath.

"What are your hungry for?" She asked, her voice just above a whisper at being so close to him. Daryl looked down at her and wondered if there was any sort of chance that he made her feel the insanely crazy thoughts that she made him feel but deep down he knew there was no way that was the truth. His Pa always made sure that Daryl knew no woman would ever a fucked up kid like him.

"Ya got anymore of that chili?" Daryl asked, moving to take a step back from Carol. She smiled and nodded, moving past him to get into her fridge. Carol couldn't believe she had made such a bold move towards Daryl by touching his shirt and getting so close to him. She could tell that it had made him uncomfortable but she just wanted to be closer to him. He let her do it, which made her feel better.

"Why don't you go clean yourself up and I'll get working on warming this up?" Carol suggested – well ordered Daryl – as she pulled out a container filled with venison chili. Daryl glanced down at his dirty arms and hands, knowing she did not mean 'wipe them on yourself'. By the look she was giving him, she meant for him to do it now.

"Where's the bathroom?" He asked, feeling slightly embarrassed how he was so okay with being so dirty.

"Down the hall, first door on the left." Carol said as she moved to the sink to get a pan out of the sink and prepare their dinner for the night. Daryl moved and walked down the hallway until he found the bathroom. It was way cleaner than his bathroom could ever be and it smelled way better too. Daryl stopped at her sink and checked out the shiner on his face before he turned on the water and used the soap they had to wash the grease off his arms and hands. Daryl sniffed the soap and made a face when it was a girly scent. He probably shouldn't have figured anything different. Daryl wiped down the sink and handle of the grease and tossed it in the trash before he left the bathroom.

When he came back into the kitchen, Carol was setting the table softly humming to herself. He smiled and watched her for a few moments and walked over to the table. "Still smells super good." He said. Carol looked up and smiled when she saw him back and she stood straight.

"Thanks. I guess you liked it." The blonde said, crossing her arms over her stomach and turning her head to look at him. Daryl nodded and licked over his lips, inhaling the delicious scent of the chili.

"A lot." Daryl said before moving to sit down at the table. Carol blushed at his compliment and she turned around to attend to the chili. "Who taught ya how to cook so well?" Daryl asked, leaning back against the chair. Carol looked back at him and bit down on her lip.

"Me." Carol said before she walked to the fridge to get some waters out. She set the bottle in front of Daryl and then moved to sit across from him, crossing her legs. "My Dad has always been away on trips and before it would be that family would come to stay with me but then I got old enough so I could stay by myself. Then I had to fend for myself and I'd just... try stuff and see if it worked. Sometimes get recipes from magazines. Most of it I learned myself." Carol took a drink of a water bottle before she spoke. "Who taught you how to hunt?" She countered, licking her lips.

"My grandpa and Merle. Grandpa taught me how to track but he taught Merle how to hunt so he taught me." Daryl said. He thought about being a little kid, when his mom was alive and his Grandpa would take him and Merle whenever his Pa got angry and out of hand. He'd take them out to the woods and take them camping and hunting so they didn't have to think about their Pa. After his Ma died then his Grandpa stopped coming around as much. It made Daryl angry that his Grandpa would suddenly just leave him alone with his Pa no matter how bad it got. He stopped calling his Grandpa for help when he turned fourteen. Carol had so many questions she wanted to ask him but none of them were very pleasant for dinner conversation.

It fell silent between the two teenagers and Carol looked down at her legs, tugging on the bottom of her hem. She took a long breath and wondered what she could say to him. "Why have you been so nice to me?" Daryl asked Carol before she could get the chance to say anything to him. Carol looked up at and frowned. Merle had asked her the same question last night and even now it stumped her. Carol couldn't be mean to anyone, she was always nice. At first she didn't think it was a big deal but the more she talked to him and then to Merle, she realized it was.

"I.. I like you." Carol said, her response causing Daryl's eyes to widen. "I.. I've never met a single person like you and that... That intrigues me." She smiled softly and looked down at her hands. "I can't explain it. I'm not very good with words either but.. I like you. I like your company." Carol said, looking at Daryl with sad eyes. She bit down on her bottom lip and let out a sigh. Daryl opened his mouth to say something but Carol cut him off. "And I don't give a rats ass what people say about you or your family. I think I made that clear when I stopped Ed and his friends."

"I ain't thanked ya for that yet." Daryl mumbled, his mind going straight to the bruises on his stomach. Carol waved him off and he stared at her for a moment. She looked like she might burst into tears at any second and he hated the fact that he caused that. That he might have made her cry. "I like your company too." Daryl said and Carol looked up at him and smiled. "I don't really like being around people but I don't mind being around ya." The blonde laughed softly and she licked her lips before standing to her feet.

"I think our chili is probably done by now." She said and walked over to the stove. She couldn't stop the smile that was on her face from him telling her that he liked her company. She had expected him to say something else about how he didn't want to be friends with anyone or tell her she was crazy. Carol picked up two pot holders and picked up the pan, carrying it back over to the table. She set it down on the table and grabbed the ladle from last night, spooning some out for herself before letting Daryl spoon his own now. They didn't talk through dinner – though Carol wasn't sure he _could_ talk through how much he was eating. He ate like he was afraid that someone was about to steal his food. It made her wonder if anyone ever took food from him while he was eating and the idea made her sick.

After they ate, Carol took care of the dishes and left him to sit at the table while she cleaned up. She did dishes and took care of the leftovers before turning back to him. "It's almost 10.. I'm sure you want to go." Daryl looked back up at her when she spoke about what time it was. He hadn't realized how late it had gotten, but at least he had been alone.

"Yeah, I should." He mumbled and stood to his feet. Daryl stood there awkwardly as he looked at Carol, unsure of how do to this. "I'll um.. Come by tomorrow to take another look at the car." He said. Carol nodded and smiled softly, walking him over to the door.

"Alright.. I'll hold you to that." Carol teased as she opened her door. Daryl walked over to the front door and looked down at her over his bangs, surprised when her mouth made contact with his cheek again. "Thank you." She said softly and looked up at him.

"For what?" Daryl asked, frowning at her.

"Everything." She said softly. Daryl stared at her for a moment, completely confused at what this crazy broad was talking about. "I'll see you tomorrow." Carol said softly before she allowed Daryl to leave. He waved back at her and took off down her driveway and down the sidewalk.

Carol shut the door behind her and smiled softly, leaning against the door. She looked down at Rocky and rolled her eyes at how her dog was looking at her. "Oh, shut up, Rocky. Lets go to bed, buddy." Carol said before heading back to her room to change into her night shirt and crawl into bed.

* * *

Daryl walked towards his trailer and he stopped when he noticed his Pa's truck in front of the trailer. "No.." He whispered as he stared at the truck. He didn't want him home, not now. Going back to that trailer would be terrible. He knew he'd get his ass beat for something that he was supposed to do but didn't. He couldn't think of anything he had done wrong, but he knew his Pa didn't even need a reason. He would just beat the shit out of him for no reason. Maybe, just maybe he'd strike lucky and his Pa would have fallen asleep already. He just hoped he didn't see the food Merle had bought him or the drawing Carol had done of him.

Daryl walked up to the door and opened it as quiet as he could, sighing thankfully when he saw that his Pa had fallen asleep on the couch. He tiptoed towards his bedroom and shut the door as quietly as he could. Once inside his room, he pulled the bags from under his bed and hid them in the bottom drawer of his dresser that his Pa had broken a few months back but Daryl repaired. As long as Pa thought the drawer was still broken. Daryl removed Carol's drawing from the wall and stuck it under the bags of food, shutting the drawer and walking back to the bed to lie down. He shut his eyes and attempted to fall asleep, just praying that his father wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

"Boy!" He heard shouted a few hours later and Daryl shot up in his bed. _Pa, just go back to bed for another ten hours. _He thought to himself and wondered if he could pretend that he just hadn't him. "Boy, I'm calling fer ya and I know ya can hear me!" His father slurred. Daryl climbed out of his bed and slowly walked over to the door, opening it up and heading into the living room.

"Yes, sir?" Daryl mumbled, staring down at his feet.

"Where were ya, boy? Ya weren't here when I came back." Will Dixon looked up at his son and crossed his arms. Daryl wrapped his hand around the back of his neck and scratched the back of his neck, trying to think of something to say.

"Was in the woods." He lied, cringing slightly because he knew his father probably wouldn't buy that lie.

"Ya bring anything back?" Will asked. Daryl shrugged and thought of the pile of dead animals he had in the back yard.

"Squirrels in the backyard." Daryl prayed that his father would buy that he had been hunting all this time. Will glared at his son, standing to his feet and looking down at Daryl.

"Ya lying to me, boy?" Will snarled and didn't wait for his son to reply before he pulled his hand back and backhanded Daryl, sending him to the floor. Daryl fell to the ground but he didn't make a sound. He knew better than to make any kind of noise, even though it was hard to not make a sound while you were being repeatedly hit in the face for no reason. When Will was done smacking his hand into Daryl's face, he shook his hand off and looked down at him. "Where's yer brotha?" He asked.

Daryl sat up and coughed up blood into his hand, turning his head to look up at Will. "He's outta town." Will looked down at son and wiped his bloodied hand off on his shirt.

"Why tha fuck is he outta town?" Will asked, snarling at Daryl. He mumbled that he didn't know why Merle was out of town and Will scoffed at his son. Daryl couldn't hear the next thing his father said as he started to lose consciousness; passing out on the floor in the living room.


	8. Eight

**Ohh look, an update! And bringing in some people from the show, yay! When I wrote this story originally, I hadn't planned on bringing anyone else from the show into it but then I decided I wanted to. And I've missed the Carol/Rick friendship that the writers have decided to rip away from me and I loved the Carol/Lori friendship too. All the friendships, please. So this chapter introduces Rick, Lori and Shane. **

**For those that have been reading _Your Eyes Look Like Coming Home, _I'm officially putting the story on Hiatus and working on rewriting some of the upcoming chapters due to rethinking everything that I had written. Also added up a one shot today called _Forever and Almost Always _and I'd love if you could take a moment to check that one out. Anyway, happy reading and Caryl on! (Also, don't forget to leave me a review. I live on reviews.)**

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It had been about three days since Carol had seen or heard anything from Daryl and she was starting to get really worried about him. He had promised that he would be back the next day but he never came around. After their talk, Carol would have thought that he was going to come back. She felt hurt that he didn't come by or find someway to let her know that he wasn't going to come around. After stirring around in her home for days, she decided that she'd take a trip over to his place and demand answers from him, even if it made him uncomfortable. She didn't deserve him doing this to her unless he had a genuine reason – which he could understand but she still thought she deserved to know _why _he wouldn't be around.

Once she showered and dressed, Carol left her house and walked the path that now felt more familiar even though she had only walked it a few times. The other times, she let herself enjoy the walk but now she was walking quickly with a purpose. When Carol entered the trailer park, she noticed that several of his neighbors were actually out for once instead of being cooped up within the park. She didn't give them attention as she walked towards Daryl's trailer though they gave her attention. When the trailer was in her sights, Carol stopped in her tracks as she saw a truck in front of it that she didn't recognize. She knew that Merle had a motorcycle and Daryl had never mentioned a truck, though there were a lot of things he probably never told her. She inched towards the trailer and stopped when she saw someone sitting on the couch she didn't recognize. She figured that it had to be Daryl's father, who he's only mentioned a few times.

"Carol?" She heard Daryl's voice behind her say and Carol turned on her heels, ready to snap at him for not coming around the house like he promised he was going to do but her words fell short when she saw him. His bottom lip was large and swollen, the bruise around his eye more intense than the last time she saw him and she was sure that his nose had been broken and he reset himself. "The hell ya doing here?" He asked when he was close enough to her. Carol's voice seemed to have escaped her body when she needed it the most. Her mouth moved but no words come out, frustrating Daryl Dixon to no end. "Shit, come on." He said and grabbed her arm as gently as he could. Daryl walked with her back into the woods, turning back to her when they were far enough out into the woods.

"Who did that to you?" Carol spoke for the first time since she showed up at his house. Daryl looked at her through his partially swollen eyes and he scoffed slightly. The hell explanation did he owe her? _Well ya did promise to come 'round then didn't. _A voice said in his mind and he mentally kicked that annoyin' fuckin' voice off its high horse.

"The hell ya doing here?" He repeated his previous question, still staying at least two feet away from the girl.

"Answer me!" She snapped, her voice loud enough to scare off a few squirrels that were hanging out in a tree. Daryl turned to put his attention on the girl, surprised that a noise so loud could come out of her. She'd mostly been quiet since he met her, even when she was talking up a storm, her voice was quiet. Carol was staring at him with wide eyes with more concern towards Daryl than he had ever witnessed in all his sixteen years. He was about to tell her that he asked her a question first but he let out a breath. Daryl reached his hand up and brushed his hand over his swollen bottom lip before mumbling.

"My Pa's a cruel man, woman." Carol's heart broke when she heard him tell her that his own father had beaten him to the point where she hadn't almost recognized him. Carol's eyes filled with tears and she turned away from Daryl, walking further into the woods so he wouldn't see the tears that fell out of her eyes. _His_ father had beaten him and _she_ was the one crying. Daryl frowned when she walked away from him and he took a few steps to follow her. He stopped when he saw her again, sitting down on a fallen tree. Her body shook with the unmistakable signs of crying, something that Daryl hated to see a girl do. Hell, he hated to see anyone cry. His expression softened and he moved to come up behind her and stepped over the tree to sit next to her. "Why ya cryin?" Daryl mumbled. Carol shook her head and wiped her eyes off, sniffling.

Carol licked her lips and let her head hang down for a moment before she spoke. "I thought you just ditched me again. I didn't think that... That something could have happened to you." Carol sighed and turned her head to look at Daryl, more tears forming in her eyes as she looked at the state of Daryl's face. Carol turned away from Daryl, finding it painful to look at him. Daryl didn't say anything to her, he just sat and let her stare out into the woods to not have to look at him.

"So what were ya doin' here? Come to yell at me?" Daryl asked, partially teasing her as he spoke. Carol chuckled and he saw her wipe her eyes off before she nodded, a smile forming on her face. Daryl couldn't help but stare at her now, she looked beautiful even if her face was red from the crying.

"Yes!" She laughed softly and looked up at the sky. "I was really annoyed that you just didn't show up. I thought I did something wrong and I just... I was selfish." Carol mumbled, her fingers resting on her shorts. She played with the hem and laughed softly to herself. She shut her eyes and daringly moved her head to rest on his shoulder. Daryl stilled for a second then relaxed with her head so close to him. Carol turned her head for a brief second before she asked. "Is this okay?" Carol knew that Daryl had issues whenever she touched him and she didn't want him to be really uncomfortable. Daryl nodded instead of speaking and Carol let out a soft breath, shutting her eyes in relaxation.

They stayed like that for a while, sitting on the fallen tree trunk with her head on his shoulder and they were completely silent. No words needed to be said, there was nothing to say. Actually, there were a hundred things that Carol _wanted _to say, but none of them she was going to say. Carol's head turned towards Daryl when she heard his stomach rumble and she reached into her bag, pulling out a candy bar from her bag. She always had some kind of food on her, it was just how she was. Carol opened up the Kit-Kat bar and broke it in half, lifting her hand up to hand it to Daryl. "I can hear your stomach." She said, getting Daryl's attention. He turned to look at her then at the candy bar, reaching up to take half of the bar from her and bit into it. He mumbled a thank you and Carol began to nibble on her half of it. She smiled as she nibbled on the Kit-Kat, listening to him eat the candy bar. "Better?" Carol asked when Daryl had finished his candy bar and she shoved the wrapped back into her bag.

"I really need to get back.." Daryl mumbled, letting out a long heavy sigh when Carol turned and looked at him with wide eyes. "The longer I stay away, the worse he gets." He said and started to stand to his feet. Carol stayed on the tree trunk for a moment before she stood up. "He'll be out of town in a few days, he does this all the time." He shrugged and Carol could tell how it was for him to actually shrug. She sighed and looked down at her feet, swallowing thickly. "Ain't nothing I can't handle." Carol sighed and shut her eyes, gigging the toe of her shoe into the ground. She wanted nothing more than to take her shotgun over to the Dixons and hold it in front of his father's head and threaten to pull the trigger if he didn't treat his son better but she knew that wasn't something that he could do.

"Fine.." She mumbled and crossed her arms over her stomach, letting out a heavy sigh. The blonde bounced on her heels for a second and took a step over to him before she kissed his cheek as gently as she could as to not cause him any pain. "I'll hold you to it, Daryl Dixon." Carol sighed softly and took a step back from him. "I guess I'll see you in a few days."

"Yeah.. In a few days." Daryl mumbled and watched the blonde as she stared at him with those damn wide sad eyes for a few moments before she turned away to walk away from him.

* * *

It had only been one day after Carol had seen Daryl and she was going stir crazy. In her time from Daryl, she'd tried to reach out to one of the friends that she had but all of them were 'too busy' to hang out with her (which we all knew just meant that they didn't want to hang out with her because she had been hanging out with Daryl) and she should have known that would happen. Hell, a part of her did know that it would happen but it didn't stop her from wanting the opposite of it to happen. She didn't want to go over to Daryl's house and get him in trouble with his Pa and figured they didn't have a phone for her to call.

Late Sunday evening, Carol picked up her phone and dialed the number of her best friend from Savannah, Rick Grimes. Rick had been her best friend since Carol was four and Rick was six. Even though he was always two years older than her, they'd always been friends. As they got older, they became friends with Lori Wilson and Shane Walsh – both the same age as Rick – and it had been the hardest thing when she had to move all the way to Atlanta, but they'd stayed in touch. She knew that he had started to date Lori and she was happy about it. She knew Lori had had a crush on Rick as long as they'd known each other. Carol pressed the phone to her ear and listened to it ring once, twice, three times before she heard Rick's familiar and comforting voice.

"Hello?" Carol felt a warmth come over her when she heard Rick's voice and a large smile formed on her face.

"Rick? It's Carol." She said into the phone, pulling her legs up to her chest as she sat on the couch in the living room.

"Carol? Guys, it's Carol! Hold on, I'm gonna put you on speaker phone." Rick said and a few seconds later she heard who she recognized as Lori and Shane within seconds exclaiming her name. Carol's smile grew even further and she leaned back against the couch.

"It is so good to hear all your voices." She said, letting out a long sigh. Carol meant it, she hadn't heard from them in weeks.

"It's good to hear from you too, Carol." She heard Lori's voice said over the phone. Carol shut her eyes for a second and licked her lips.

"What are you up to, Ms. Sanders?" Shane asked. Carol bit down on her bottom lip when she heard Shane's voice. She'd gone out with him a few times before she had to leave Savannah but it'd ended before she had to leave. She loved Shane as one of her best friends but that was all she ever wanted it to be. She'd only done it for Rick, who had thought they would make a great couple though Carol had always figured it was because he and Lori wanted someone to double date with. She hadn't expected Shane to have had feelings for her, though. Nothing Carol couldn't manage.

"Just sitting at home... I called for a reason, though."

"Oh so it wasn't just because you missed us dearly?" Rick teased.

Carol laughed softly and shook her head, even though there was no way her friends could see it. "Part of it... I was hoping you guys could come out and spend a few days with me. I miss you guys and I miss hanging out with you." She heard them talking towards each other for a few seconds before Rick's voice returned to her.

"Hell yeah we'll come down. We'll leave tomorrow morning." Carol bounced up and down on the couch in excitement.

Carol and Rick made plans for the group to meet at the Waffle House in town around eleven and then she'd ride back with them to her house. They agreed to stay with her for a week and then they'd go back to Savannah. Carol talked with the group for a little while before she hung up to head to bed. She was sure that hanging out with her the three friends she used to hang out with in Savannah would make her feel a lot better.


	9. Nine

**Hello, a new update! In this chapter we learn about Carol's mom and see the friendship between Carol, Rick, Shane and Lori. And we see a familiar face!**

******One last note before I get into the chapter. I'm putting it out there that I'm looking for a beta. For this, I'm looking for someone who has posted their own fics on here that I can look at, someone with skype that won't mind if I sit and do nothing but rant out about ideas I've got for my stories and someone that can get back to me within at least two days after I send them a story. If this sounds like you, please leave me a PM or head over to my tumblr ( peletierscarol).**

**I've also updated _Of Marauders and Men,_ so if you read that please check it out! **

Carol woke up the next morning just after nine o'clock, slamming her hand on top of her alarm clock. The blonde sat up and groaned softly before she climbing out of her bed and heading into her bathroom to do her morning routine. After her shower, Carol went back into her bedroom and decided to wear jeans for once. It was a cool day in Georgia which was incredibly rare, especially in the summer, but Carol was not going to complain about it. After pulling jeans on over her underwear, Carol pulled a red t-shirt over her head. "Rocky, you're going to meet some more of Mommy's friends. Are you excited? Are you excited, boy?" Carol asked, kneeling down to pet her dog. "I'm so excited for you to meet my friends!" She giggled as he licked over her face. She took the dog outside before she went into the kitchen to make a small snack to tide her over so she could wait until ten thirty to leave her house.

After getting Rocky back in the house, Carol pulled her shoes on and grabbed her bag before she left the house to walk to town. She was hoping that some day Daryl could figure out what was wrong with her car and she'd be able to use the car instead of walking everywhere – though it did allow her to eat whatever she wanted. It was just past ten twenty when Carol walked into the Waffle House and she walked towards a back table to wait for her friends, tilting her head when she saw a familiar face. She stood up and walked over to the table, standing at the edge.

"Merle?" Carol said. Merle looked up as he chewed his pancakes and grinned at the girl.

"Hey, blondie." He said as she sat across from him, her eyes glancing to the window so she could see if her friends were close.

"When did you get back in town?" She asked, crossing her legs. She wondered if he'd been back home and saw Daryl. Maybe Daryl was coming here, maybe he was with him.

"This mornin'." Merle said, picking up his mug of coffee and took a drink of it. "Why? Ya miss me?" He teased. Carol rolled her eyes and laughed, leaning over and taking a piece of his bacon. Merle looked up and glared at her for a second while she stuck the bacon into her mouth.

"Hey, you owe me for the dinner you _weren't _invited to that you came to." Carol retorted as she chewed. "You been home yet to see Daryl?" She asked, playing with her hands in her lap. Merle shook his head and licked his lips.

"Why? You ain't seen him?" Merle asked. Carol shook her head and picked at her jeans.

"No.. I saw him uh... tow days ago. Looked like hell." She said, her voice lowered. She could feel the stares while she sat across from the older Dixon brother and heard the whispers talking about them.

"He say why?" Carol licked her lips and sighed, wondering if she should tell him. Hell, he was going to see Daryl sooner or later.

"He said your guys' father is home.." She said. Merle cursed loudly and wiped his hands off with a napkin. He reached into his back pocket and pulled his wallet from it, opening it and throwing a bunch of money on the table.

"If the waitress gives you change, just keep it, a'ight?" Merle said to her. Carol nodded and waved over a waitress to get Merle's check. After the waitress came back and took the check, Merle put his wallet back in his pocket and stood from the booth. He looked down at Carol and licked his chapped lips. "Thanks, kid." He said before leaving the restaurant and heading out to his bike. Carol furrowed her brow and watched Merle leave. While she watched him leave, she saw Rick pull up into the restaurant and she took the change the waitress gave her, shoving it in her pocket before she climbed out of the booth and left the restaurant. When she saw Rick climb out of his car and the coast was clear, Carol called out.

"Rick!" She cried out and began to run over to him when he turned around. The small blonde jumped into his arms and wrapped her thin legs around him, burying her head into her best friends neck. "I've missed you so much." Carol said, feeling tears well up into her eyes. She couldn't believe that he was here right now. It felt like it had been forever since she'd seen her best friend even though it had only been months. Rick wrapped his arms around Carol and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Hey, kid. Missed you too." He said as she pulled her legs off him and stood straight. Carol threw her arms around Lori's shoulders when she walked up behind Rick, several tears falling from her eyes. Lori smiled and hugged her back, running a hand over her hair. Lori had always been just like a big sister to Carol, and the girl missed it. She missed having a girl around to just talk to, even if Lori was quick to rush to judgment about people. Carol pulled away from her and wrapped her arms around Shane's waist, even though the hug was awkward and a little forced. Just as she pulled away from Shane, Carol heard Merle's voice behind her.

"Hey, blondie." Carol turned around to face Merle and wiped her eyes off, walking over to him. "Thanks for letting me know about my Pa. Probably wouldn't have been home until later." Merle pulled sunglasses out of his jacket and pulled them on.

"No problem, Merle." She said, pushing her hair from her face.

"Maybe ya ain't so bad for Daryl after all." He mumbled and revved his bike again before he drove off. Carol smiled softly at his comment and she let out a weak laugh before shaking her head.

"Who was that?" Rick asked from behind her. Carol turned around and faced them, shaking her head and running a hand through her curls.

"Just a... Friends brother." Carol smiled softly and she let out a breath she was holding. "Lets go inside and catch up, okay? I want to hear everything." She said with a wide smile and lead them back into the restaurant.

Carol and Shane sat across from Lori and Rick in a back booth, Carol's mind still drifting off to Daryl and Merle and what could possibly be happening right now. "So, what are you all up to? Come on, tell me something good." Carol said once she turned her attention back to her friends. Rick and Lori looked at each other and seemed to communicate with each other without needing to say a word. Carol frowned at their silence and turned to look at Shane, narrowing her eyes at him. She could tell that he knew something that she didn't and Carol didn't like that, not one bit. "What are you two mentally telling each other?" Carol asked, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at them with a very unamused look on her face. She watched Rick squeeze Lori's hand before turning to look at Carol.

"Lori's pregnant." Rick said and her eyes widened before a smile formed on her face and she looked at Lori for a confirmation.

"Oh my god, no way!" Carol squealed, clapping her hands together. Sure, Rick and Lori were only eighteen and barely in college, but she had never seen any two people more in love than Lori Wilson and Rick Grimes. "I can't believe it, this is great! When did you guys find out? How far along are you? Do you know the sex?" Carol shot off a bunch of questions towards the pair. Lori raised a hand and clapped it over one of Carol's hands before she began to answer the questions she rattled off.

"We found out about a week ago. Three months and no. We're waiting." Lori squeezed Carol's hand and the older girl smiled, taking her hand from Rick's and covering her stomach. "But we're really happy about this. It was unplanned, but its a blessing." The brunette said. Carol grinned and watched the two of them for a moment.

"This is so great. I'm so happy for you guys!" She grinned and bounced slightly.

"You'd think ya'll told her the best news in the world." Shane joked, bringing his arm around the booth. Carol knew it was meant to be around _her _but didn't want to freak her out.

"How is this not the best news in the world?" She asked, turning her to look at Shane. "Our best friends are having a baby. If you can come up with better news, I wanna hear it." The blonde retorted, turning her body to face Shane.

"I got into the Atlanta Police Academy." Shane stated, turning to look at Carol. It was silent between the four people, even as the waitress brought their drinks. Rick and Shane both got black coffee, Lori a glass of orange juice and Carol got a milkshake – even if it was eleven. She stared at him for a few moments before she opened her mouth to talk. The smile fell from her face as she stared at Shane while he took a drink of his coffee.

"So you're.. Gonna be a cop?" Carol asked. A million emotions flooded the young girl. She was proud of her friend for deciding to do something so brave and selfless, but it was also dangerous and the idea of him being a cop terrified her. She knew what could happen to him, she had lived it nine years ago.

"Sos'Rick." He said, picking up his black coffee. Carol turned to look at Rick, then at Lori who hung her head. She clearly already knew this. "We both got in last month." Shane stated. Carol turned to look at Shane and she felt tears well up in her eyes. Neither of them had thought to mention it, despite countless phone calls and letters. Carol's breathing began to quicken and she clenched her teeth in anger.

"Were you guys just not gonna tell me and let me be surprised when ya'll just show up in Atlanta?" She asked, turning from them and grasping the glass that held her milkshake. She pulled it close to her and stared down at the cherry sitting on top of it.

"Carol.." Lori said, reaching over to take her hand. Carol ripped her hand from Lori, despite the fact that it wasn't Lori's fault she was angry.

"Please let me out, Shane." Carol said, her voice cracking.

"Car.." Shane said, looking at his former love.

"Let. Me. Out." Carol spoke slowly as to avoid bursting into tears in front of her friends. Shane gave in and scooted out of the booth and Carol grabbed her bag, scooting out of the booth and leaving the restaurant in a huff. Once she was out of the restaurant, Carol let the tears flow and she crouched down, letting the heavy sobs rock her body.

When she heard Rick's footsteps behind her – which she knew from over a decade of friendship, Carol stood up and started to walk away from him. Rick jogged over to grasp her arm and made her look at him, Carol bringing a hand up and slapping her best friend. "How could you not tell me this is what you were doing?!" Carol shouted at Rick.

"Carol -" Rick started and Carol cut him off with another slap. Rick brought a hand up to his face and rubbed the spot where she had smacked, knowing that he had deserved it.

"How could you not tell me?"

"I knew this was how you'd react." He said, shaking his head. She laughed bitterly and pursed her lips.

"And how was I supposed to react, huh? My mom was a cop. You knew her. You were there at her funeral, you cried with me!" Carol sobbed.

"Your mom was the best damn cop, Carol." Rick said softly, trying to calm down his best friend. He hated himself for the fact that he was making her cry like this, he knew how much she missed her mom everyday.

"Yeah, that did her a lot of good didn't it? She's _dead,_ Rick. My mom is dead and you're telling me you want to go into the same career she did? That Shane does too?" Carol hadn't realized that Shane had followed them out and was standing just a few feet away from them. Sobs rocked Carol's small frame and she covered her face. "What if you... What if Shane..." Carol couldn't finish her sentence, she broke into more heavy sobs. Rick and Shane let her cry for a few moments before Rick wrapped his arms around Carol and held her close despite her telling him to let her go and smacking his chest. Carol gave into the hug and wrapped her arms around Rick, sobbing heavily. "I can't lose you, Rick. Or Shane. I can't lose you like that. Not like I lost her."

"You aren't, Carol." Shane spoke for the first time and Carol lifted her head up, looking at him. Carol removed her arms from around Rick and threw them around Shane's shoulders, causing the much taller man to step back before he wrapped his arms around her. Rick rest his hand on the small of her back and sighed. "Promise." Shane mumbled into her curls. Carol laughed bitterly and shook her head.

"Don't make me a promise you can't keep. I'll kick your ass, Shane."

It takes Carol a few minutes to calm down but when she does, she feels better and she pulls away from Shane. "I hate both of you, I want you to know." She said and looked up at them. "And I'll hate you even more if you leave me like she did." Carol threatened. There wasn't a day that went by that it didn't kill her that her mom was dead. There wasn't a day that she didn't miss her mom but there also wasn't a day where she wasn't _furious_ with her too. Her mom always promised before she left for work that she'd be back and Carol always believed her until the day that she didn't come back.

"We know." Rick said and wrapped an arm around Carol's shoulder and kissed her forehead again. "Why don't you go in and talk to Lori, we'll be in in a few minutes." Rick said. Carol nodded and walked back into the restaurant, sitting across from Lori.

"Are you okay with this, Lor?" Carol asked, looking up with wide sad eyes at Lori.

"Hell no... But Rick wants to do it. To honor your mother and... I can't stop him." Lori reached forward and took both of Carol's hands. "I'm not going to promise you that he will be okay or he won't end up like your Mom or any of that... Because I can't promise it but I can promise you something. If he dies, I will resurrect his ass and kill him again." Lori squeezed her hands and sighed softly. "You know Rick and Shane love you, right? So do I." Carol nodded and she felt tears blur her vision again.

"I know. I just... I hate all of this. I hate her for dying and I hate that... I hate that they could end up like her." Carol sighed heavily and looked down at her milkshake before pulling it over to her and taking a drink of it.

"Why don't you tell me about this Daryl you ain't bad for."


	10. Ten

**Look, another update! Thank you to the people who have stuck around with this and I know it seems slow now but it'll pick up. This chapter brings back Daryl, yay! I've also updated _Of Marauders and Honor _and uploaded a new fic called _A Memory, A Melody or Just One Picture _which is centered around a relationship between Merle, Carol and Daryl (with no incest, of course) and I would love if you checked that out!**

**********Oh! Another thing. I've decided to do a series of one shots that are solely prompts from tumblr and from here for Carol and Daryl. So if you have a short prompt for me, leave me a message peletierscarol on tumblr, in my inbox here or in a review!**

**Still looking for a beta, please message me if you're interested.**

* * *

"Carol... Hey, Carol, wake up." Carol felt two soft hands shaking her gently and she cringed as her eyes opened and she looked up at Lori, who was standing over her body. It had been two days since her closest friends from Savannah had come to visit and while she was enjoying her time with them, she was still bitter about the fact that Rick and Shane were going to go to the police academy and she hadn't seen Daryl in three days.

"What?" She mumbled and rubbed her hand over her eyes. Carol glanced at the clock on her end table and saw that it was almost noon, the latest she'd slept in in months. She sat up and pushed her blanket off, lifting her head up when she heard shouting. "The hell is going on out there?" She asked and climbed out of bed, picking up a pair of shorts from her floor.

"There's some guy here who says he wants to see you but since Rick and Shane don't recognize him, they aren't letting him in." Lori said. Carol frowned and pulled her shorts on, pulling the zipper up and buttoning them. She pulled hair back into her a ponytail and made a quick stop to the bathroom as she had a _pretty _good idea who was standing at her door. Carol used the bathroom and brushed her teeth, splashing water on her face before she left the bathroom and walked down the hallway.

She cleared her throat to gain Shane and Rick's attention and they both turned to look at her, parting ways so that she could see Daryl standing at her door. He was dressed in jeans and a different colored t-shirt from the last time she'd seen him and the bruise on his face was healing nicely, same with his lips. "Daryl!" She said happily, semi-jogging over to the door and throwing her arms around his shoulders without thinking. She was just too happy to see him. Daryl was taken back by her hugging him and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, glancing up at a disapproving Rick and Shane.

"Who the hell is this, Carol?" Shane asked, basically growling at Daryl. Carol pulled away from Daryl, mumbling a small apology to Daryl for basically tackling him and she turned to Rick and Shane.

"Rick, Shane, this is Daryl Dixon." Carol said with ease, knowing that there was no way the infamous Dixon name was that popular. "Daryl, this is Rick Grimes and Shane Walsh. They're... two of my best friends." The three guys stared at each other, not saying a word to each other. Carol could tell that Rick and Shane didn't trust Daryl – but they were also two of the most protective people in the world and she didn't blame them for not trusting someone she'd never mentioned before. "That's Lori in the back." Carol said to Daryl before she stepped out onto her porch and shut the door behind her.

"If I'd known ya had company, I wouldn't have come 'round." Daryl mumbled, reaching a hand around his neck and scratching the back of his head. Carol looked up at him and a soft smile formed on her face.

"I'm happy you did. I've... Well I've..." Carol trailed off and let out a long breath. She wanted to tell Daryl that she missed him, but she didn't know how to say it and not freak him out.

"M'too." Daryl said, knowing what she was going to say and not wanting to make her say it. Carol smiled and moved to sit down on the bench of her front porch, tapping the seat next to her. It took Daryl a moment but he moved to sit next to her and looked over at her. "One of them your boyfriend?" He asked, partially curiously and partially bitterly. Carol began to laugh and she shook her head.

"No. Hell no. Rick... Rick is like my big brother and Shane.. Well, Shane and I went on a few dates before I moved but.. It was never a thing." She looked over at him and nudged his arm slightly. "Jealous?" Carol asked, more teasing him than actually thinking he was jealous or anything. Daryl scowled at her and mumbled that he wasn't jealous. "I asked them to come down to visit because I haven't seen them in... half a year. They don't... They don't care that my house is one floor, they don't care that my shoulders are disgusting. They're... My best friends. Family." Carol mumbled the last word, her bare feet dragging over the wood of her porch.

"The girl?" He asked, referring to Lori. Carol smiled and licked her lips.

"Lori is like the big sister I never had. They're all two years older than me so I always considered myself lucky they didn't seem me as a dumb kid following them around everywhere." Carol pulled her legs up and rest the balls of her heels on the bench. "Speaking of big siblings, saw Merle at Waffle House a couple days ago."

"Yeah, he mentioned." Daryl mumbled, turning and staring at Carol as she held herself tight in a ball. "Couldn't even bring me back some pancakes." He said and it took Carol a moment to realize that he was trying to make a joke at his brother. Carol chuckled and smiled, resting her head on her knees. "Ya didn't either."

"Hey, if you want pancakes say the word and I'll make you your own batch of them." Carol offered, turning her cheek to rest on the top of her knee so she could look at them while they talked. Daryl made a face at the idea of eating breakfast with her friends and he shook his head.

"Naw, M'good." He said, though Carol wasn't sure he actually good but she didn't want to push it.

"Take it he's out of town?" Carol asked, referring to his father. Daryl nodded and licked over his sun chapped lips.

"Left last night. Not before eating all the meat I'd hunted." He said bitterly. "Went out hunting to replace some of it then came back to see ya. Like I said I would." Carol couldn't help but smile when he mentioned the promise he'd made and she moved to lie her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks." She whispered softly. Daryl looked at the blonde head nestled on top of his shoulder and he smiled softly, surprised that he liked how close she would get to him sometimes. It was new for Daryl, a touch that wasn't meant to harm him.

"Merle said he'd take a look at your engine sometime soon. I ain't gonna be able to figure it out." Daryl said and Carol nodded. "Said ya can pay him in a home cooked meal."

"That's about the only way I could pay him." Carol said softly, dragging her fingers along her calf.

The two of them stayed like this on her porch for a while in the silence, despite how Carol knew it had to be driving Rick and Shane crazy that she was out there with him instead of inside with her. It had to be an hour before Daryl mumbled that he was gonna head out back into the woods. Carol nodded and let him stand up, dropping her legs to the porch. "Come back later? After they'd gone to bed... I'm sure you'd feel more comfortable without them here... Or without them wake." Daryl looked back at Carol and a small smile formed on his sheepish lips.

"I'll be back later." He said and for some reason the way he said it sent shivers down her spine. Carol smiled and stood from her seat, telling him goodbye before she went back into her house. She looked up and saw Rick, Shane and Lori sitting at her table, all three heads turning to look at her when she walked into the house.

"What?" Carol asked, walking past the table and opening the door to the fridge. She pulled out a water bottle and opened it, taking a quick drink.

"Who the hell is that?" Shane was the first to speak and Carol raised an eyebrow.

"Daryl. I introduced you to him." She said as if she didn't understand what he was saying.

"Yeah, then went out on the front porch with him and sat for a fuckin' hour and a half." Shane said, his strong fingers gripping the water bottle he'd been drinking from. So that's how long it had been. "So who is he? He your new boyfriend?" Carol rolled her eyes at Shane's tone and she shook her head.

"No, he's not my boyfriend, Shane. Unlike you two, I don't believe in keeping secrets from my best friends." She spat bitterly. Carol glared at both Shane and Rick, daring them to say anything else. "Daryl is my friend. Okay?"

"Seemed pretty happy to see him." Shane said, looking up at Carol. She knew that Shane had still harbored the feelings he had previously for her, even when she told him that she didn't feel the same way. Carol sighed and shook her head, a scoff leaving her lips.

"Yeah, I also jumped in Rick's arms and threw my legs around his waist, ya think I'm secretly dating Rick too?" She asked, setting the water bottle down on the table. Shane looked between Rick and her and shook his head, taking a drink of the water. "Good. Now I'm going to take a shower and dress for the day and when I came back you better have a better fucking attitude, Shane Walsh." Carol snapped and turned on her heels to walk away from the group at the table.

"Jesus, Shane, what's wrong with you?" Carol heard Lori ask as she walked away from them. The voices became muffled as she walked further away from them and once she was in them, she couldn't hear them anymore.

* * *

After her shower, Carol decided that she'd take her friends down to the lake. It was in the middle of the week and she knew she was risking her friends running into the friends she previously had, but the lake was one of her favorite places that she loved to be and she wasn't going to let those jerks ruin it. Carol packed up a picnic basket for them and put a blanket in there and they were off to the woods. With a pregnant Lori, it took them longer than it normally would to get to the lake but they made it with good time and Carol was so relieved to find that none of her old friends were there. Carol set up the blanket on the ground and she and Lori sat on the blanket while Rick and Shane went out into the water.

"You know they just worry, right? They know you're out here all alone all the time." Lori said. Carol turned back to look at her and she smiled softly.

"I know. But I'm fine, really. I'm used to being alone now."

"You're never alone, Carol. We're always one call away." Lori said and she touched the soft of Carol's back. "We're always here for you." Carol leaned her head against Lori's and sighed.

"I know. But I can't call you guys every single time I'm alone or need you. You all got your own lives now." Carol was slightly bitter about it but she knew it was going to happen since they were so much older than her. She sighed softly and shook her head.

"Hey, it's not like we're not all moving to Atlanta with them going to the academy. We'll still be an hour out, but we'll be closer." Carol smiled softly at Lori's reassurance and she smiled. "We'll be able to come see you all the time. Like old times." Carol turned to look at Lori and sighed.

"I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Rick and Shane. Don't make promises you can't keep. Things will never be like old times." The young blonde shook her head and let out a sigh before she looked up at Rick and Shane. "Especially not with them going into the Academy and you and Rick starting a family. I'm not stupid enough to think that everything will be like it used to be and I know you aren't either." Lori looked at her friend, amazed at how much she'd grown in the last six months. Six months ago, what Lori had said would have soothed Carol.

"I know." Lori said softly and followed Carol's eyesight to look at her boyfriend and best friend. "So Daryl's cute." Carol rolled her eyes and giggled softly.

"Yeah, he is. I don't think that's going anywhere... Daryl's... Different from anyone ever I met. Probably why I like him." She smiled and pulled her legs up to her chest. "He's like... A skittish dog. I've only touched him, _not like that,_ a few times." Lori nodded and moved to lie down on the blanket.

"I still think he's really cute." Lori said. Carol smiled and licked over her lips and shrugged.

"Yeah, so do I." She said softly and looked over at Rick and Shane, waving at them from the later.

Later she and Lori both joined them in the water for a while then they ate the picnic that Carol packed, then head back home. During the night, Carol kept trying to urge them to go to sleep without actually saying them. She just wanted to see Daryl again.

* * *

Carol left her window so that Daryl could come in through the window and she lied in her bed, head buried in _The Outsiders_. It'd been her favorite book for years and she'd probably read it close to a hundred times. Every time she reread it though it was like a new experience and it took her on the exact same ride it took her through the first time she read it. Every time she found something new that made her love the book even more.

"Hey." Carol heard and she jumped off the bed, tossing the book onto the floor. She turned and looked at Daryl as he was climbing into her window and she laughed softly. "Sorry I scared ya."

"I should put a bell on you." Carol said as he stepped onto her floor and he looked around the room. It was nothing and everything he expected from her room to look like and it made him smile softly. He leaned down and picked up the book she'd been reading, staring at the cover of it. Daryl could read and he could read well, he even liked reading. That was one thing that Merle fought to keep Daryl doing, sneaking him books in the middle of the night. He'd never tell anyone that Merle did it since Merle hated reading but he'd never wanted his brother to grow up not being able to read.

"_Outsiders._" He mumbled, holding the book out to her. Carol took the book from her and she set it on her end table, nodding slowly.

"My favorite book. Read it close to a hundred times." She said softly as she stood in front of him. She'd been thinking about wanting him close to her just like this before, it'd been in her dreams several times but she never thought it would actually happen. Carol swallowed and moved to lie back down on her bed, patting the bed. Daryl sat on her bed for a moment and pulled his boots off before he lied on the bed next to her. She couldn't believe that he was actually lying in her bed with her and it made all of her senses heighten.

"Read it m'self a while ago." He mumbled. Carol smiled at hearing that he'd read the book too and she looked up at him.

"You know they made a movie of it?" She asked and when he shook his head, she spoke again. "I have it on VHS. Maybe when my friends leave you can come over... I can make dinner and we can watch it?" Carol asked. Daryl lifted his head, one of his hands resting behind his head.

"Like a date?" He mumbled nervously and Carol liked her lips before she nodded.

"Yeah, like a date... Only if you want to." She said softly and bit down on her bottom lip. _Please say yes, please say yes._ Carol thought to herself.

"Yeah, sounds good." Carol wanted to get up from her bed and jump and down on top of her bed to celebrate that he'd just said yes to a date with her.

"Awesome." She said softly and licked over her lips before she lied back down next to him. In a brave move, Daryl wrapped an around her shoulder, his hand resting on her shoulder. Carol's breath quicken and she felt her heart beat quickly. This simple thing felt better than any of the kisses Shane had ever given her or any of the times that Ed Peletier had tried to make a move on her. _This felt good._


	11. Eleven

** Thanks for all the love I've gotten, it means so very much to me. Also updated today was _A Melody, A Memory Or Just One Picture, Roxanne_ (which is now finished), and _Of Marauders and Honor _and a new one shot _Stay For A While. _Not to mention, a brand new fic has been posted. It's called _A New Day _but it's Carol/Merle. Marol is my new obsession, but I'll never abandon Caryl.**

******I'm on tumblr too (as I have mentioned before), peletierscarol (which will auto-direct you to my custom url). Please feel free to follow me and talk to me there. One can never have too many friends. **

**Happy reading and Caryl on!**

* * *

"Mornin' Carol." Shane said from the kitchen entrance. Carol turned to face Shane and she smiled softly when he came into focus.

"Morning, Shane." She said before turning back to the frying pan. Since she and Daryl talked about pancakes, the blonde had decided she really wanted some pancakes – even if she wasn't making them for Daryl. Carol flipped the four pancakes that were sitting on the frying pan, pressing them into the pan. On a pan next to the pancakes, there was a frying pan filled with bacon because in Carol's mind no breakfast was complete without bacon. "Coffee's made and there's pancakes and bacon ready on the counter." She said. Shane walked up behind Carol and took a plate and a mug from behind her. His head hovered over her shoulder and it made Carol slightly uneasy.

"Smells good." He said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and piled his plate with bacon and pancakes before walking to the table. Carol moved from the counter and walked to the fridge to get the syrup and butter. She set them on the table and gave Shane a friendly smile before walking back over to the stove.

"Rick and Lori up yet?" Carol asked, pushing a strand of her hair from her face. She realized that since she and Shane had dated those few times, this was the first time that they'd been alone together and Carol was ashamed to admit it made her more nervous than it should. Even if Shane still harbored feelings for her, it wasn't like he would make a move on her. Before she moved to Atlanta, she told me she didn't have those kinds of feelings for him and he seemed to accept it. He didn't like it, but he accepted it.

"Nah. Lori was up late with vomiting. Thought morning sickness was supposed to be in the morning." Shane mumbled as he prepared his pancakes. Carol shook her head and picked up her own plate after she pulled the last bit of pancakes and bacon onto their respective plates. She walked over to the table and set her plate down before fetching the jug of milk and pouring herself a glass of milk. She sat across from him and lathered her pancakes in syrup and butter, setting her bacon on her napkin so they wouldn't get syrup on them.

"Morning sickness isn't just in the morning. It lasts all day." Carol crossed her legs as she cut into her pancakes and glanced up at Shane. She'd always thought that Shane had the biggest appetite she'd ever seen, until she met Daryl and Merle Dixon. Perhaps if they were able to eat like Shane normally did, they wouldn't have that big of an appetite.

"Why do they call it morning sickness?" Shane asked, lifting his head up to stare at the young girl. Even though she'd been two years younger than him, she was always special to him.

"Dunno. A man probably named it." Carol teased Shane and stabbed a piece of her pancake and stuck it into her mouth, chewing and swallowing. Shane made a face at Carol and she giggled softly, picking up her glass of milk and taking a slow drink.

"You're a funny girl, Sanders." Shane said as he took a drink of his coffee. "Don't think Rick and Lori are gonna wake up any time soon... Wanna go out.. Catch a movie or something?" He asked. Carol pursed her lips and looked up at Shane, not wanting to give him the wrong idea.

"Yeah.. That'd be fun." Carol said and nodded slowly as she continued to eat her pancakes. "Think _Back to the Future_ is still our local theater." Shane nodded and Carol nervously licked her lips before picking up a piece of bacon and chewing on it nervously. "We haven't spent much time together recently so.. It'll be good." The blonde said.

"Yeah. We haven't spent time alone together since you moved." Shane said over his cup of coffee. Carol turned back to her pancakes and slowly cut them up, eating each slice one by one. "I figured when uh.. When Rick, Lori and I move down here next month we can... Hang out again." Carol looked up and she immediately knew exactly what he meant. She set her fork down and sighed.

"Shane.. I told you already.." Carol started only to be interrupted by Shane.

"I know you said it was awkward but if we try it again you'll see it was just because we were nervous, it'll be right this time." Shane said. Carol took a deep breath and shook her head slowly, running a hand over her curls. Maybe she'd been wrong about Shane, maybe he wasn't going to let it go.

"No, Shane. I meant exactly what I said. I don't feel for you that way, I'm sorry." She said, sitting in the awkwardness that was her kitchen. Why had Shane needed to press this issue? "You're one of my best friends, Shane, and I love you so much but... Not the way you want me to." Carol stared at him and her heart ached at his look of disappointment.

"I just.."

"I know, Shane. And I really hope you won't do anything to jeopardize our friendship. Especially with ya'll moving down to Atlanta now." Carol said with a soft smile. Shane looked up at her and he felt weak at the sight of her smile. If he couldn't have _her_, then at least he could still be her best friend.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Carol." Shane said and Carol hoped deep down that he really meant it. "But I still want to spend some time with you before we go back home." Carol smiled and reached over to squeeze his forearm gently. She returned to her food and they ate in silence until Shane spoke again. "Anything going on between you and that... Redneck kid?" He asked, clearly having forgotten Daryl's name. Carol looked up at him and licked her lips.

"His name is Daryl, Shane." Carol corrected and she set her fork down, as she was done with her pancakes anyway. "And... No. Not right now." She said, nervous about all of his questions. Carol picked her pieces of bacon, chewing at them slowly.

"Do you want something to happen between ya'll?" He asked. Carol looked up at Shane and her lips twitched up in a smile slightly.

"Daryl's complicated. It's all complicated. Besides, I just met him." Carol said, wondering if she should mention that she asked him out last night. She didn't want to not tell him and have him found out some other way, and she wouldn't be much better than him and Rick for keeping secrets. "We.. We do have date coming up.. After ya'll leave." Carol stumbled out, her stomach tightening at the heartbroken look on Shane's face. Shane nodded slowly and he took another drink from his coffee.

"I'm happy for you, Carol. No one deserves to be happy more than you do." Shane said.

Carol smiled softly and stood to her feet, grabbing their plates and taking them up to the sink. "Why don't you go get ready, Shane? If we get to an early enough show, we can go into some of the shops. Maybe we can find a present for baby Grimes." Shane nodded and finished his coffee before he head to her bathroom to get ready.

* * *

"That was terrible." Shane said as they left the theater and Carol turned her head to look up at him.

"I'm sorry but did we just see the same movie because that movie was _awesome_." Carol said, both of her hands slipping into her pocket. They'd just left _Back to the Future_ though Carol wasn't sure he was sitting through the same movie he was.

"No, that was shit." Shane said as he walked down the sidewalk with Carol at his side. It felt nice for them to just spend time together, even if it wasn't how he had wanted it.

"Clearly you are crazy." Carol said with a large grin. "What do you want to do now?" She asked, noticing the time on her watch. Carol had left Rick and Lori a note at the house telling them they out to spend some time together and they'd be back by three. It was just past one and they still had a few hours to kill. They started walking past shops and Shane turned his head to look into one.

"Lets go into here." Shane said and opened the door for Carol. She stepped into the store and looked around. It was a clothing store, one of several that were in the small area. Carol looked around the store, fingering articles of clothing that she couldn't afford. "Carol, look at this." He said, holding up a silver belt buckle that said 'Suck My Buckle' on it.

"You are not buying that." Carol said as she walked over to him. Shane grinned and held it above her head as he reached around the back to grab his wallet.

"I'm so buying it." He said, watching Carol as he walked over to the cash register and paid for the belt buckle.

"Unbelievable." She said, laughing softly as she turned her head and saw an ice cream vendor. "Hey, I'm gonna get us some ice cream cones. Chocolate, right?" She called out to Shane.

"Please!" Shane called after her as she walked out and stopped at the vendor. She got a chocolate cone and a vanilla one, licking the vanilla cone as Shane out. He wrapped his hands around the buckle he'd attached to his belt and Carol rolled her eyes. "Hey Carol, suck my buckle." He grinned at the girl as he took the chocolate cone from him. Carol made a disgusted face at him, which she played off as teasing him.

"I hate you." She said as they continued to walk down the sidewalk, keeping her head straight as she walked down the street while licking the cone. Carol tilted her head as she saw Merle and Daryl leave a butcher shop, Daryl pocketing cash. She figured he must have sold some meat to the butchers for some extra cash. Carol glanced back at Shane before she picked up her pace to greet Merle and Daryl with large smiles, Shane walking up behind her. Shane scowled at the sight of the the kid from yesterday and who he assumed was one of his friends or his brother.

"Hey, blondie." Merle said as he looked at Carol and Carol frowned at him.

"Do you know my name, Merle?" She asked as she licked over her ice cream cone. Carol knew that both Merle and Daryl were staring at her ice cream and her licking it, but how the hell was she supposed to eat the ice cream? "Merle!" She exclaimed after she realized that he wasn't replying. Merle looked up at her and grinned.

"Yeah sure. Whatever ya say." Merle said and Carol rolled her eyes before speaking.

"Daryl said you'd take a look at my car for me?" Shane stepped up behind her, glancing at both Daryl and Merle. He didn't know what was so special about these two that she was interrupting their day together to talk to them.

Merle nodded and leaned back against a pole. "Yeah, I'ma take a look at your car for ya. Daryl told you my price." Carol glanced up at Daryl for a second and really hoped they were both talking about the same thing. "Daryl here is gonna get us a nice buck and you're gonna make some of that chili for ol' Merle." She grinned and looked up at Merle, squinting in the sunlight.

"Most definitely get that done for you, Merle." She said before Merle reached forward and swiped some of her ice cream from her cone with one of his fingers. "Merle!" She exclaimed as he pulled the finger into his mouth and sucked the ice cream off it. Carol turned the cone to face her and she made a face, shoving the cone towards him. "You can have the rest." She said as Merle took it from her, then looked up at Shane and at his belt buckle.

"We got ourselves a cowboy here, ain't we?" Merle asked, grinning with an amused look on his face. Carol turned to look up at Shane and licked her lips.

"Uh, Shane, this is Merle Dixon. Daryl's brother. Merle, Shane Walsh. Friend from my hometown." She said and smiled up at Shane. They didn't shake hands or say a word to each other, causing Carol to feel incredibly awkward in a weird triangle of testosterone. "Okay then. Shane and I have some shopping to do. I'll uh.. See you guys... Friday, I think. That'll be good for you, Merle?" He gave her a single nod and Carol grabbed Shane's hand and pulled him away from Merle and Daryl, scolding him when they were in a record store. "Wouldn't have killed you to be nice, Shane."

"You don't know that. Might have dropped dead there if I was." He mumbled as he rifled through the stores records. Carol rolled her eyes and she flipped through the records even though she had no money to buy anything she wanted. "Why didn't you tell me there was something wrong with your car?" Carol looked up at Shane and she shrugged.

"Daryl said he'd look at it then Merle offered after Daryl couldn't figure out what was wrong with it." Shane looked like he was going to make a comment about how of course the hick couldn't figure out what was wrong with it but he figured he'd already angered her enough today.

"I could've taken a look at it for you." Shane mumbled bitterly. Carol smiled sadly at his obvious jealous and she shrugged.

"This week was about all of us spending time together, not you and Rick fixing things around my house." She argued, walking over to Shane and touching his arm gently. "Come on, lets just finish shopping and have our day together, please?" Shane looked down at Carol and he sighed softly, nodding and giving into Carol's demands.

* * *

"So, Shane seems to still have a thing for ya." Daryl spoke after a few minutes of being silent. Carol looked up at him and she opened her mouth to deny it but she knew there was no point in denying it. She shrugged and looked up at her ceiling. On her ceiling were glow in the dark stars that she'd stuck up there one night a summer ago as she always found them comforting.

"Yeah, he told me that his morning over breakfast." Carol said honestly and she felt Daryl's body stiffen slightly and she smirked to herself at how he reacted upon hearing that her friend still had a thing for her. She looked up at him again and stared up at him with an amused look on her face.

"What?" Daryl grumbled when he noticed that she was looking at him. He stared down at her and he couldn't believe that for the second time in two days he had snuck over to her house and was lying in her bed next to her. "Stop looking at me like that." He growled playfully at her.

"You jealous of Shane?" She asked, her voice dripping with amusement. Daryl growled at her and she giggled at him.

"I ain't jealous." He said, his voice slightly raising. Carol brought her hand over to his move and covered his mouth, bringing a finger to her own mouth.

"Shh, Rick and Lori are in my dads room and could hear you." She said before pulling her hand from his mouth. Daryl looked down at her and spoke quietly.

"Don't want Mom and Dad to find us, do we?" He teased and she giggled softly before lying her head back down.

"Rick would be so unamused if he found with me with a boy in my room. Even though he got his girlfriend pregnant." Carol said. Her bed was a queen size, but they were still somewhat close to each other. They didn't need to be, but they were. She wondered if being so close to her made Daryl feel uncomfortable at all, but if it did he didn't do or say anything about it. They fall silent again and lie there with each other.

"Hey, Carol? You in there?" Carol lifted her head up when she heard Shane's voice through the door. "I heard a voice. You got someone in there with you?"

"No, Shane." Carol said, hoping that Shane wouldn't open the door. "And I'm not decent so don't come in here." She cringed and looked up at Daryl, looking down at her with a very amused look on his face. She glared at him playfully and turned her head back to the door.

"You sure you okay in there?" He asked and Carol rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Shane. I'm good. I'm just going to bed. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" Carol heard Shane sigh and heard his footsteps walk down her hallway and back to the den where he'd been sleeping. Carol turned her head and she looked at Daryl for a moment, letting a sigh escape her lips. "I guess that means you should go." Daryl looked down at her and he frowned slightly. He didn't want to go, he liked staying in her bed. It was soft and comfortable, not hard like his own. And he liked her company, she was much nicer than Merle and smelled a lot better than he does too.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Daryl asked as he climbed out of her bed. Carol sat up and smiled at him saying that he'd come over again.

"Only if you want to." She said and stood off the bed, standing in front of Daryl. He looked down at her and smiled before he spoke.

"See you tomorrow, Carol." Daryl said before climbing out of her window. Carol walked over to the window and shut it before climbing into her bed.


	12. Twelve

**Thank you to those who have stuck around with this fic! I appreciate it greatly. **

**I don't know a lot about hunting, so I probably shouldn't have written that scene but I did it anyway. **

**Don't own The Walking Dead.**

* * *

Carol stood on her porch and watched Rick, Shane and Lori pack up their things in Rick's truck, feeling worse and worse each second that passed by. She didn't want her friends to go – even though she knew they'd be coming back in less than a month. Since the friends she'd been keeping for the last year had suddenly decided they didn't want to be her friend since she prevented Ed Peletier and his friends from beating up Daryl, she had no other friends if she wasn't counting Daryl. She didn't know if she _could_ count Daryl – were they friends? They did things that friends did but wasn't sure if he considered her his friend.

"Carol, we're ready to go." Rick called from the drivers side of his truck. Carol walked down from her porch and threw her arms around Rick's broad shoulders, burying her head into his shoulder. Rick sighed softly and wrapped his arms around the smaller girl, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"I don't want you to go." Carol mumbled against his shoulder, unsure if Rick could decipher what she'd said.

"Kid, I don't want to go either, but I've got to." Rick said softly and Carol squeezed her eyes shut to prevent herself from crying. A soft laugh escaped her throat as she felt Lori and Shane join in on the hug and she sighed heavily. Carol felt like a child when their parent had to go to work and would hold onto their parents leg so they wouldn't leave her. And if Rick, Lori or Shane thought she was above doing that, they underestimated her.

"We'll be back in a month, Carol. It'll go by quickly, you'll see." Lori said once they group had broken apart. Carol turned and looked up at Lori with wide eyes and she sighed. She knew that Lori was right. They'd be back soon and even if it wasn't the same, at least her friends would be closer than Savannah.

"I'll hold you to it." Carol's voice cracked as she spoke and she bit into her cheek to prevent the tears from falling over. After another set of long and emotional hugs; Rick, Lori and Shane climbed into the truck and drove off. Carol stood in her driveway and watched the truck drive away until she couldn't see it anymore, then she went back into her house to clean up the kitchen. She'd made waffles and bacon for breakfast to send her friends off and she'd made just enough so that there would be left overs for Merle and Daryl – that is if they even showed up. She'd told them what time they should come but she knew that they could always skip out on her. Carol set aside the plates she'd made for them and cleaned up the rest of the dishes.

Carol went up to her bedroom and picked out clothes for the day – a t-shirt and loose jeans were her choices for today. She figured the last time Merle and Daryl came over they'd had a good enough view of her scars that she wouldn't force them to look at them again. Carol was just about to get in the shower before she heard knocking on her front door. Was it really eleven already? Carol cursed and wrapped a towel around herself before stepping from the bathroom. She walked into the hallway, just far enough from the door that whoever was behind the door wouldn't see her there but she'd be able to hear her.

"Merle? That you?" Carol called out to the door, biting down on her bottom lip.

"You expectin' anyone else, blondie?" A soft sigh of relief escaped Carol's lips as she heard Merle's gruff through her door. She tightened her grip on the towel to prevent it from falling. Should she just go and open the door and tell Merle that if he says anything, she'll shoot him? Should she just tell him to come in? Carol didn't know what she should do when she was standing there. "Ya gonna let me in?" Merle's voice broke her from her thoughts and she coughed.

"Come on in, Merle. Door's unlocked. Left some breakfast for you if you're hungry." Carol said as she started to retreat into the hallway. She heard to door open up and heard two sets of footsteps as she walked back into her bathroom, figuring that Daryl came with him. She couldn't help the feeling of happiness that rushed over her. Carol had figured that Daryl would come with him she wasn't incredibly sure if he would. Carol walked into her bathroom and set the towel back on the rack before starting the shower and climbing in. She showered and dressed in record time, leaving her curls down on her shoulders. Carol left her bathroom and walked into the kitchen, seeing just Daryl standing over her sink. He was actually cleaning the dishes from the plates that he and his brother made. She smiled and stayed silent for a moment before she spoke. "Where's Merle?" She asked, using her hair towel to towel dry her hair.

Daryl jumped at her sudden presence and dropped the glass that was in his hand, thankful that it was just plastic. He looked back at her and licked his lips as he noticed the water droplets from her hair trailing down her skin. "In the garage. Got it open for him, hope ya don't mind." He said. Carol smiled and shook her head, resting her towel on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. "Thanks for breakfast."

"You're welcome. Made a huge batch for breakfast this morning, figured it was the least I could do to make sure I saved some for you two." Carol said, walking over to the nearest counter and pulling herself up so she was sitting on it. She crossed her legs and looked over at Daryl.

"So your friends are gone?" He asked out of genuine curiosity. Sure he didn't really care for that Shane kid, but he hadn't had a lot of interaction with the other two. They seemed like good people, he doubted that Carol would keep them around if they weren't.

"Yeah." Carol nodded and she let out a sigh. Daryl looked up at her over his bangs and he could see how sad she was about it and it made him feel guilty for being happy that they were gone. "For now. They're actually moving down here next month. Rick and Shane are joining the Police Academy despite the fact that it's _stupid_ and dangerous and I don't want them to." She said the last part in a single breath and let out a long breath. "Anyway, they're moving down here."

"Hate cops?" Daryl asked and Carol looked up at him. Through all their talking this week, she hadn't told him about her mom and how she died. It was always something that was hard for her to talk about. She sighed and shrugged.

"Something like that." She said softly and looked into those eyes that killed her each time. It was silent between them for a few minutes before Carol spoke again. "Do you consider us friends?" She questioned, tilting her head to the side. Daryl looked up at her from his place against the counter and he frowned. Did he consider her a friend? What was a friend like? Daryl had never had a friend before, unless you counted Merle and he was sure you couldn't count Merle as a friend. She was the closest thing that he ever had to a friend.

"Yeah." Daryl said after a few moments of thinking it over. He looked up in time to see a smile form on Carol's face and she looked down at her knees.

"Good." She whispered and let her bare feet swing against the cupboards. Carol hadn't thought about how the question would affect her and she certainly hadn't thought that it would cause her stomach to contort in such a way.

"I.. I ain't ever had friends before. Stupid, huh?" Daryl mumbled insecurely. Carol glanced up at him and shook her head, speaking when she realized that he wasn't looking at her at all.

"No. It's not." She said softly and shrugged. "I'd rather have no friends than bad friends." Carol hoped what she said made him feel slightly better about what he'd just told her. Daryl chuckled and glanced up at her, pushing himself off the counter.

"I need to go get that deer for ya to make that chili for Merle." Daryl said, chewing on the inside of his bottom lip. "Wanna come with?"

Carol tilted her head at Daryl and let out a light laugh. "Are you asking me to go hunting with you, Daryl Dixon?" She asked with a slight tease in her voice.

"Would ya rather stay here with Merle hittin' on you?" He retorted and Carol's nose scrunched up as she made a face at him.

"Okay yeah, I'll come with you." Carol said before jumping off the counter. "Just let me go put my boots on and I'll be out." She said before walking back up to her bedroom. Did she seriously just agree to go hunting with Daryl? It wasn't really hunting if you were just going to stand there and watch? Carol sat on her bed and put on a pair of socks before pulling her boots on. She laced each boot up tightly before standing to her feet and walking back to her kitchen, where Daryl was waiting at the door. He looked up at her when he heard her footsteps and his lips twitched upwards in a smile.

"Gotta stop by the trailer and get my bow, then we'll be on our way." Daryl said before opening the door. Carol nodded and walked over to the door, walking past him. He shut the door as he walked out and turned to look at Merle, who had his head under the hood of her car. Carol bit down on her lip as he told Merle they were heading out, only to have Merle reply by grunting. Carol snorted as she realized exactly where Daryl got his communication skills from. "C'mon." Daryl said to the blonde, starting down the sidewalk. Carol jogged up to meet Daryl, slipping her hands into her pockets. "Now when we're in the forest, just stay quiet and don't get in my way. I will shoot you if you do."

* * *

Carol and Daryl must have been in the forest for more than an hour tracking one deer, but Daryl never took the shot even though Carol was sure that he had the shot several times and was now convinced he was doing this on purpose just to frustrate her. Her feet and calves hurt something terrible but she wasn't about to open her mouth to complain about it – partially because it was silly to complain about he had told her that if she talked, he would shoot her. Granted she was sure he was kidding but she did not want to risk getting shot with an arrow. The blonde followed Daryl through the forest, getting to a part of the forest that she wasn't familiar with at all. _Well, if he was going to kill me, this would be a really good spot to do it. _Carol thought to herself as she watched Daryl jump off a small ledge and turn back to her, holding his hand out for her.

It took her a moment to realize that he meant for her to take his hand and she reached forward for him, grabbing the hand that he had held out for her. Daryl helped her down the ledge and she gave him an appreciative smile, wanting to scream when he took his hand away from her. She slipped her hands into her pockets again and followed Daryl, following his footsteps until he stopped abruptly. Carol almost crashed into him but she was lucky enough to be able to catch herself and take a few steps back. He knelt down and pulled his crossbow out and Carol moved backwards to get out of his way. She was just out of view enough that she wasn't able to see what Daryl was seeing, the only thing she could see was him.

Daryl was aiming, his finger half pulling the trigger and she could see his breath slowing down to the point where she was completely unsure if he was actually breathing. He looked like a freakin' statue and Carol tried to burn the image into her memory for future references. Daryl pulled his trigger and he stood to his feet, walking in the direction of his arrow. Carol pulled herself up and she walked over to where he was standing, watching Daryl tie up the deer he'd just killed. He lifted up the deer onto his shoulders like it was nothing and Carol licked her lips, unsure what it meant that she never found him more attractive than right now. Daryl walked past her and set the deer up over the ledge and turned back to her. Without saying a word, Daryl grasped both of her hips and lifted her up on the ledge before pulling himself up. Carol pulled herself to her feet, mumbled a thank you and followed Daryl back to her house, trying not to lose the memory of how Daryl looked just seconds before he took the shot.

* * *

Carol sat curled up on the swing in her backyard with Rocky at her feet, her fingers curled around her favorite drawing pencil as she sketched the outlines of Daryl from her memory. Daryl was twenty feet away from her, skinning and gutting the deer he'd killed earlier so she could make her chilli later. They'd returned back to the house ten minutes ago, greeted Merle (who once again replied with just a grunt) and went into her backyard. She didn't mind that he was getting blood all over her picnic table, though she wasn't sure how she would explain that to her father.

Carol had been so involved with her drawing of Daryl that she didn't hear his footsteps coming over to her or hear him sit next to her. "What're ya drawing?" He asked, bringing Carol out of her thoughts. She jumped and shut the sketchbook, turning her head to look at him.

"Not- Get off my swing with all that blood all over you!" Carol exclaimed. Daryl looked down at the blood on his arms and down the front of his shirt and he stood up, mumbling an apology. Carol pursed her lips and stood to her feet. She felt bad for yelling at him, he looked like a child when she did.

"Come on, lets get you cleaned up." She mumbled before walking over to her garden hose, unwinding it and turning the water on. Daryl walked over to her and stuck his arms under the stream of cold water, running his hands over the blood on his arms. "If my neighbors could see this, they might think I'm helping you get away with murder." Carol said, a grin forming on her face. She hoped that her joke would somewhat lighten the mood that was going on between them after she snapped at him. Daryl looked up at her and it took him a moment to give her a slight smile.

"Deer murder." He joked and Carol let out a soft laugh before turning off the water and winding it back up.

"I'll get you one of my dad's t-shirts so you're not wearing a bloody shirt everywhere." Carol said and walked over to the sliding door of the den. She didn't wait for him to argue with her before she went into his fathers room and fetched a t-shirt that she was was sure would fit him. She left his bedroom and shut the door behind her before she walked down the hallway, catching a glimpse of him in her bathroom. She turned into the bathroom and handed him the t-shirt before walking back into the kitchen to pull open the cupboard and pull out the ingredients she'd need for the chilli. She prepared what she could without the meat and turned around to see Daryl standing in the kitchen, holding the folded up bloody t-shirt. Carol stopped when she saw him in the t-shirt that was much too big for him and she chuckled softly. "Sorry, guess it's a little big." She said before she picked up a plastic bag and held it out so he could drop it in. Daryl dropped the shirt into the bag and Carol tied it off, setting it on the counter.

"S'okay." Daryl mumbled and he looked down at her. She was so close and he could smell her shampoo she'd used hours earlier when she'd showered. Of course she would smell like strawberries.

"You okay?" Carol asked when she noticed how his breathing had changed. She tilted her head and looked up at Daryl, standing just a few inches away from him. Daryl swallowed and nodded, looking down awkwardly at his feet. Carol smiled and took a step back so he'd feel more comfortable before she spoke. "Why don't you go and get some of that deer for me? I have enough ingredients left to make a double batch of the chili. I need three pounds of the deer." Daryl nodded and he turned on his heels quickly to head out into the backyard. Carol let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the counter for a second before she decided she should check on Merle and her car. Carol walked over to her fridge and pulled out a beer for Merle, using her shirt to open the beer before she walked outside and towards Merle. "Figure out what's wrong with her yet?"

Merle lifted his head and looked up at Carol as she stood in front of him and he took the beer she offered to him, mumbling a thank you. "Couple wires fucked up. Batteries dead and some parts in your engine need to be fixed. Got some guy that I know can hook me up with the parts real cheap." Carol sighed softly and she bit down on her bottom lip.

"Not a chance I can pay them in chili is there?" Carol knew that if she called her father and asked for the money to fix her car, he'd send her the money right away but she wasn't sure how much she'd need.

"I'll see what I can do for ya. You're a good kid." Carol shrugged and shook her head even know she knew that paying her a compliment had to be hard for Merle. "Good for my brother. But if ya hurt him, don't think I won't hesitate to shoot you. Pretty girl or not." Carol looked up at Merle and stared him right in the face as she spoke.

"If I ever do that, you have my permission to shoot me." Carol said before she turned on her heels and walked back into her house.


	13. Thirteen

**Hello! So I promised updates on my tumblr and so I'm delivering. A lof of fics probably won't be updated for a while because I'm just... I'm stuck. I'm stuck in everything and I don't know when I'll get out of this funk. Hopefully soon because I don't like being so stuck. However, if anyone would like to try to help me get out of my funk, that would be so appreciated. Anyway, everything as been updated. Thanks for checking all this out.**

**Once again, do not own The Walking Dead and do not own of the characters used unless you don't recognize them.**

**I know the date chapter is incredibly short, but I promise I'll make up for it.**

* * *

Carol and Daryl had agreed on Monday night being the night for their date – though Carol wasn't even sure if it was actually a date. She didn't want to bombard him with another question like that after she had outright asked him if they were friends. She figured one uncomfortable question was enough for him for a few weeks. She'd asked what he wanted her to make for dinner, but he told her to make something that she knew she could make, as he wanted to make it easier for her. She'd fought between making chicken stir fry and Chicken Parmesan, but ultimately ended up deciding with chicken stir fry because she thought it would make it easier for them to eat and watch a movie at the same time. While her food was cooking, Carol went to her bedroom to fish her VHS of _The Outsiders _out of an old box and went into the living room to make sure it was rewound.

When everything was ready, Carol decided it was time for _her_ to actually get ready. She had been worrying so much about the dinner and the movie that she hadn't even though about what she was going to wear. Granted, she was sure Daryl was going to show up in his typical outfit but she still wanted to put something nice on. Carol fished out her nicest pair of shorts, simple and black that came down to her knees, and found her nicest t-shirt. It was still incredibly hot in Georgia, but she wanted to look nice. Carol showed quickly and dried her hair out, using her hair straightener to actually straighten her hair out. She rarely straightened her hair out, but she decided that she wanted to. She would straighten her hair out more often but it always took so long that she never wanted to. Carol stared at herself in the mirror with her straightened hair for a few minutes before she heard knocking on the door.

Carol's stomach jumped into her throat when she heard the knocking and she unplugged her straightener, running her hand through it and teasing it so it didn't look so freakishly neat. Maybe it was a bad idea that she decided to straighten her hair. Carol walked out into the kitchen and opened the door, smiling when she saw Daryl. As if he knew that she expected him to show up in his typical outfit, he had actually dressed up – well his version of dressing up. Daryl was wearing a nicer pair of jeans (that looked kind of stiff and uncomfortable) and a button down shirt that had actually managed to keep its sleeves. Carol's smile widened as she looked up at him, holding open the door further so he could come in.

"Your hair.." He commented as he walked in and Carol self consciously reached up to touch her hair. She bit down on her bottom lip and shut the door once he was inside her house. Daryl inhaled the scent of the freshly cooked food and a smile formed on his face. It was selfish, but Daryl really liked when she cooked for him. Her cooking always tasted so delicious and he was so used to having Merle cook that he forgot there was more food out there than fried squirrel and deer.

"Is it bad? I just thought I'd.. do something different." Carol said as she moved into the kitchen. Daryl followed her like an obedient puppy, the intense smell of freshly cooked food getting stronger as they moved into the kitchen. Daryl looked over at her and stared at Carol with straight hair and he bit down on his bottom lip. It certainly wasn't bad, though he really loved the way the curls looked on her.

"I like your curls but.. It's nice." He said and a deep red blush formed on her cheeks. Daryl had to admit he liked whenever he could make her blush instead of it being her who embarrassed him and made him blush. She mumbled a thank you and turned back to the stove where she stirred the food she'd been cooking. "Anything I can do to help ya?" Daryl asked, watching her as she warmed up the food. Carol looked up over her hair and nodded towards the cupboard.

"You can get bowls out. Or plate, whatever you want to eat in but I would like a bowl." Carol said. Daryl walked over to one of her cupboards and opened it up while looking for two bowls. He pulled out two light yellow bowls and set them down on the counter next to her.

"What did you make for us?" Daryl asked, looking at the two pans.

"Chicken Stir-Fry. I hope you like it." Carol bit down on her bottom lip. She hadn't thought of whether or not he would even like it. Daryl pursed his lips before reaching into the hot pan to pull a piece of chicken and a few peppers out of the pan to drop them in his mouth. Carol's mouth dropped open and she stared at him disapprovingly as he chewed then swallowed.

"Tastes great." He said completely amused at the look on her face.

"I can't believe you did that." Carol said and she gently swatted his arm. Daryl laughed at her and Carol smiled at the sound of his laughter. Most of the time, she heard soft chuckles but rarely did she hear unabashed laughter from him and she _loved_ hearing it. "Go sit in the living room, I'll be in in a few minutes with our bowls." Carol ordered and Daryl held his hands up in surrender before he walked into her living room. Carol smiled and watched him walk away from her before she turned back to the food, dishing each of them a good size serving into the bowls. If you had told Carol three weeks ago when she first came across Daryl Dixon in the forest that she'd have him in her living room after making dinner for him and they're interaction would be _easy_ and he'd actually be open to her she would have called you crazy. Carol balanced two sodas and two bowls between her arms as shew walked into the living room.

When Daryl saw her coming towards him, he stood to his feet and grabbed one of the bowls and the sodas before moving to sit back on his place on the couch. Carol sat next to him, having to sit a little closer than she figured he would be comfortable with due to the small size of the couch. Their legs were almost touching as Carol leaned forward and used the remote to press play on the movie.

* * *

Daryl looked over at Carol when he heard sniffling and he was surprised to see Carol with tears streaming down her face. They'd just gotten to the part in the movie where Johnny Cade died and while it always made him really sad, it'd never made him cry before. Hell, he'd never seen anyone cry at this movie. Carol noticed him looking at her out of the corner of her eye and she tried to wipe her face off. Daryl frowned at her and he lifted his right arm up, resting it just over the couch above her shoulders before he built up the courage to let his arm come around her shoulder and his hand rest on her shoulder. Carol froze for a second and turned to look at him and he frowned, going to pull his arm away.

"No." Carol mumbled and she turned into his touch, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head over his chest. Daryl stiffened briefly before relaxing into her touch and he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as the movie ended. Neither of them moved during the credits. Hell, Daryl waited until the end of the movie to wrap an arm around her, he could certainly wait past the credits to pull away from her.


	14. Fourteen

**[heart eyes] progress!**

* * *

"So how did it go?" Lori's voice came through the phone after Rick had handed the phone to his girlfriend. Carol had told Lori about the date she was planning on having after they left, so the next day one of the first things she did was call Rick (and have a quick chat with him) before she demanded that he give the phone over to his girlfriend. A smile formed on her face as she thought about the date which was not really a date but maybe it was a date. Carol still wasn't sure what she should call it. It had date elements to it, but that didn't make it a date. "Hello? Earth to Carol.." Carol snapped out of her trance and mumbled an apology before she spoke.

"Oh, Lori it was... It was great." Carol sighed dreamily and moved to lie down on her back as she talked into the phone. "I'm still not sure if it was a date but.. I mean it felt like a date..." She trailed off and sighed heavily.

"Well, what did you two do?"

"He came over. I made dinner. We ate dinner while watching _The Outsiders_. Then we … Cuddled for a little bit." She admitted towards the end, her face flushing even though Lori couldn't see how much she was currently blushing.

"You two cuddled? And you're saying that's not a date?" Lori asked, a laugh leaving her lips. Carol frowned as Lori laughed at her and she looked up at the ceiling.

"Things with Daryl are... They aren't like it was with Shane or how you and Rick are. Touching... He doesn't really like it." She sighed softly and didn't want to go into detail to Lori about how she knew that Daryl's father was abusive. Carol licked over her lips and she bit down on her bottom lip. "He freaks out and goes rigid whenever I touch him."

"So him letting you touch him is even more special?" Lori asked and Carol bit down on her bottom lip. When she didn't respond, Lori continued on. "If he doesn't like being touched but he's been letting you touch him more and more – don't look at me like that, Rick, I don't mean it like that!" Carol giggled softly at the interaction between Rick and Lori, trying to suppress her laughter when Lori returned to their phone call. "Then you must be really special to him, Carol."

"Or he just lets me do it because I pout like a child when he doesn't." Carol laughed at herself and bounced her feet on the arm of the couch. "I don't know, Lori, I'm just... I don't know if he thinks of it that way. He.. He said he'd never had a friend before so what if... What if he just doesn't know how to be just a friend?" She mumbled, looking down at her finger nails. While trying to busy herself, Carol had painted her nails a deep red and her toe nails black and while they had dried a while ago, she continued to look at them and check if they were still dry like they could magically become wet again.

"Look, kid." Carol heard Rick's voice come through the phone again and she raised an eyebrow when she heard his voice. Wasn't she talking to Lori and not Rick? Or did Rick and Lori just morph into one person. If they morphed into one person what would they be called? Rori? "If this little shit doesn't think of you as the greatest girl to walk this earth.." Carol heard Rick whisper to Lori that he had to say greatest because if Daryl thought Carol was second to Lori, he'd have to beat his ass for a whole new reason. "As the greatest girl to walk this earth, then I'll come over there and beat his ass." Carol couldn't help but giggle at the idea of Rick beating up Daryl, then it made her stomach ache in pain because she didn't _want_ him to beat up Daryl. He got that enough at home.

"Thanks, Rick." She laughed softly before Rick told her that he and Lori needed to go to a doctors appointment. She sent her best wishes and gave her love to everyone around before she hung up and sat up. Carol set the phone down and stood up, putting on her flip flops instead of her boots. She'd gone through the trouble of painting her nails, might as well show them off. She picked up one of the containers of the left over stir-fry, grabbing her bag and pulled it over her shoulder before she left her house and walked up to the trailer park where Daryl lived.

Carol frowned when she saw the several police cars along the sidewalk and looked up to see Daryl and Merle outside the gate. She walked up behind Daryl and tilted her head to see cops questioning several of the neighbors. "What's going on?" Carol asked, causing both Daryl and Merle to jump in surprise. People didn't sneak up on the Dixons, but it seemed that this tiny little thing loved to sneak up on them and scare the daylights out of them.

"Scared the fuck out of me, kid." Merle said. A smile formed on her face as he killed her kid just like Rick did and she shrugged. "Cops were called after shots were fired at one of the trailers. I'ma go have a smoke." Merle said and he walked away from Daryl and Carol. She looked up at Daryl and lifted the dish up.

"Thought you'd like some leftovers from our date yesterday." She said without thinking of calling it a date. Daryl looked down at her and he took the container from her, a small smile forming on his lips.

"It was a date, huh?" He asked. Carol opened her mouth to reply but was cut off when a cop came walking down and he snarled at Daryl for what seemed like no reason other than the fact that he was a Dixon. When the cop was out of ear shot, Daryl spoke. "Fuckin' hate cops." Carol bit the inside of her cheek before she spoke.

"My mom was a cop." She replied, Daryl's head snapping up to look at her. He opened his mouth but she waved him off and shrugged. "She died on a call... Domestic violence turned murder. Guy shot his wife then shot my mom five times when she came in the house." The way Carol said it must have made it seem like she didn't care that her mother had died but she'd never been more sad than when she talked about it. "Hated my mom for a long time after that. I used to beg her to stay home every night and she'd always say to me 'Carrie, Momma has to go save the world. But she'll be back. Momma promises'. She said it everyday to me, every time she left the house on a call." Carol couldn't believed that she was dumping all of this information on Daryl in a situation like this.

"M'sorry." Daryl mumbled as he ran his hands over the containers. Slowly, the cops began to empty out of the trailer park and Daryl started to walk up to the trailer, Carol standing alone for a moment wondering if she should follow him or just go home. She bit down into her lip and let out a heavy sigh before jogging towards him.

"Okay so I didn't just show up to give you left overs, it was just an excuse." She said when she caught up to him. Carol was beginning to think that he was starting to think that she was just an annoying kid who followed him around everywhere – just like how she worried that Rick, Lori and Shane felt about her.

"Couldn't tell." Daryl said and for a second, she stared at him and wondered if he was being serious but when he looked back at her, he was smirking and she realized he was teasing her.

"You're a jerk." Carol said as they stopped in front of his trailer.

"Been told that before." Daryl looked at her as he walked up the steps and he held his hand over the door. "Am I supposed to invite you in?" He looked back at her and Carol shrugged.

"Well, you don't have to. But that is the social norm and it's polite and.. My feelings will only be a little bit hurt if you don't." Carol said, holding up her hand and holding her thumb and forefinger just inches away from each other. Daryl looked inside the trailer and then back at her and Carol reached up to grasp his wrist. "Daryl, I don't care. That you live in a trailer. I don't give a shit." Carol rarely swore and she found herself realizing that the only times she did was when it was around Daryl. Daryl looked from her hand on his wrist to her face and – despite the fact that he wasn't always the best judge of character – he knew she wasn't lying. Hell, he didn't think Carol could lie. He opened the door and walked inside the trailer, Carol catching the door just before it shut and slipping into the trailer. She glanced around at the inside of the trailer and though it was simple and very dirty, she didn't think anything bad of it. Hell, it really just needed a good cleaning.

"Gross, I know." Daryl mumbled. Carol shrugged as Daryl looked back at her and she gave him a warm smile.

"Just needs a really good cleaning." The blonde said honestly. Daryl flushed and he walked around the half broken table and towards his bedroom, which was probably the cleanest place in the whole trailer. Carol followed him into his bedroom, which was incredibly small. She smiled when she noticed her drawing on the wall next to a Bruce Springsteen poster and she walked over to it, fingering the corners of the paper.

"Yeah I.. Took it down when Pa was home. Knew he wouldn't.." Carol looked over at him and moved to sit down on his bed as Daryl pulled several articles of dirty laundry off his floor and tossed them in a corner.

"I can wash those for you if you want." Carol offered, hoping he wouldn't be offended by the offer. "I actually really like to do laundry. I find it calming..." She said. Daryl shrugged and she smiled softly at him. "Change your mind, let me know." She pulled her bag off of her shoulders and she set it on the floor before she looked back up at the drawing. "I still think it's one of my best drawings. I would have loved to have it in my portfolio for college but... I wanted you to have it more." She admitted as Daryl walked over to her and he sat on his bed.

"How did ya find where I live?" Daryl asked her. Carol lied back on the bed and looked up at him from upside down, shrugging as she locked her fingers together on her stomach.

"Phone book." She said, a grin forming on her lips. Daryl looked down at her for a moment, his eyes trailing over the curve of her neck as she lied on the bed and looked back up at him. Carol lifted her head up and adjusted so she was lying on her stomach as she looked up at him. "So what does Daryl Dixon normally do in a Tuesday?" Carol asked, holding her head up with both her hands.

Daryl shrugged and looked down at her. "Sometimes I help out at the lumberyard, sometimes its the junkyard. Huntin'. Mechanic shop. Anything to make some money." Carol nodded and twisted her bottom lip as she sucked it into her mouth. "'Bout you?"

"Well, in Savannah, I'd be at Rick's house probably watching movies or TV. Play Mario Brothers. Here, my Tuesdays are normally spent at home, studying. Reading. Drawing." Carol looked down at her red nails and made a face at how one of her nails was already chipping. "I painted these things earlier this morning and the damn thing is already chipping. Chip-free my ass." She mumbled to herself.

"Draw anything interesting lately?" Daryl asked. Carol looked up and rest her hand against her cheek, tapping her fingers against her cheek. Should she tell him that she had drawn him hunting? And had drawn Merle working on her car? Nah, that would be a little weird.

"I drew Rocky. Drew Rick, Shane and Lori. Drew what I thought Rick and Lori's baby would look like." Carol bounced her legs on his bed and watched as Daryl leaned over his bed and reached into the bag of snack food underneath.

"Fruit pie?" He asked, holding the pie out to her. Carol tilted her head and took the fruit pie from him, looking down at the flavor.

"Ooh, cherry, my favorite." Carol said before she opened it up and split it in half before handing it over to him. Daryl took the half from her and chewed into it, watching her as she nibbled on it. Carol swiped her finger through the filling and pulled her finger into her mouth. He felt his pants tighten as he watched her suck on her finger and he cursed inwardly. _This bitch is trying to kill me. _

"Was last night a date?" Daryl asked out of nowhere and Carol almost choked on the finger that was in her mouth. "'Sorry." Carol giggled softly and looked up at him.

"I... Well, I thought it was.. It seemed datey and.. I wanted it to be but if you didn't want it to be then it totally wasn't a date or anything." She rambled and took a large bite of the fruit pie so that she couldn't say anything. Daryl stared at the girl, who was normally so much more brave than he was, stutter and ramble over her words.

Daryl considered his words and wondered if Merle was nearby listening to his brother sound like a goddamn little bitch. If he was listening, he knew he would never hear the end of it. "Wouldn't mind if it was." He admitted and Carol looked up over the fruit pie in her hand hand. She chewed and swallowed the pie before she spoke.

"Cool." She said softly and dragged her finger through the cherry filling again. Daryl watched her intently and choose to distract himself by focusing on his own cherry fruit pie. He noticed the smile on her face and it seemed to be infectious. He tried to hide the smile that was forming on his face but he found it almost impossible to prevent the smile from forming on his face. Carol finished the fruit pie and rolled back over on Daryl's bed, finding it slightly hard to lie on his bed considering how hard it was compared to hers. "Do you wanna do it again?" Carol asked, holding her head up by both of her hands. "A date that is. With me."

Daryl looked up at her and he pursed his lips for a second, wiping his hand off on the shirt he was wearing. "Yeah.." He trailed off and licked over his sun chapped lips. Carol smiled and she felt her stomach jump up into her stomach. She could not wait to call Lori and tell her about this.


End file.
